Stopped in the supermarket: What life is really like for Yorkshire's new MPs

From Westminster to West Yorkshire, Jade Botterill would love to see Parliament move up north

At last year's general election Yorkshire's voters chose 17 brand new MPs. Twelve months after polling day we've been to speak to some of them about how their lives have changed and how the government is doing.

Before she became Labour MP for Ossett and Denby Dale, Jade Botterill worked as a community development officer for Wakefield Trinity Rugby League Club, where she secured funding to get local children into sport.

Now she's in a position to fight on a bigger stage, she says: "Being able to represent my home town is huge.

"There's a lot of older grey-haired men down in Parliament, so being a younger female going down there is a bit of an eye-opener and it has been a steep learning curve.

"It's a completely new experience for me, there is lots to learn on the job and I also represent 75,000 people in my in my home town so coming back home and speaking to as many people as I can is what I I like to do the most."

'Can't do everything in 12 months'

Labour has had a tough first year. Explaining the cuts to the winter fuel payment to constituents was hard and this week saw Botterill vote for the Welfare Reform Bill.

"We need reform in the welfare system and and this isn't about cuts, this is about getting people back into jobs," she says.

"I think the stat is one in three young people are not in work, training or employment. We need to change that and that is what that bill is going to look to do."

I point out it feels like Labour have lost a lot of the momentum they had after the election.

"Well, look we're 12 months into a government," says Botterill. "You can't do everything in 12 months, but this is a government that is focused on delivery.

"I represent an old coalfields area. One of the first things we did in the first few months was give the miners their pension, the pension that they deserved, and that was £1.5bn.

"That affected a lot of people around here, so I'm proud of things like that.

"One of the sort of personal sides of the job is the fact that I don't see my family as much now, so for me I wish we could bring Parliament to the North - I would love it."

But after a tough year does she still enjoy it?

"I love the job," she says. "Yes, it has its challenges but what a huge honour as a 34-year-old woman to represent the area I grew up in.

"I'm forever thankful every day that people elected me to be their MP."

'It's been a whirlwind': Tom Gordon gives his acceptance speech last year

Although Tom Gordon is a new MP he's not new to politics. I first met him when he was a last-minute candidate for the Lib Dems in Batley in 2021 - he'd also stood against Yvette Cooper in 2019.

He was a councillor in Wakefield and his mother, who was his inspiration to get into politics, still is.

But there is a big difference between the council chamber and the House of Commons.

"It has been all sorts of weird and wonderful," says the Harrogate and Knaresborough MP.

"With the additional challenge of being the only Liberal Democrat in the region trying to make sure I bang the drum for the Liberal Democrats in Yorkshire too, it's been a whirlwind."

'Unusual and strange'

There is also the realisation for new MPs that people know who they are and might want a quick chat or a moan.

"It's been quite unusual and quite strange," says Gordon.

"Trying to do a supermarket shop is a new one. You get stopped all the time, but that's good.

"The work-life balance is definitely a tough one. I don't think there'll be anyone feeling much pity for us MPs though, it's what you sign up for."

Asked how he thinks the government has done in its first year, he says: "I expected the Labour Party and the government would disappoint people, but I didn't expect it to disappoint people this quickly... and that's really worrying.

"They had a tough hand they were dealt picking up the pieces after 14 years of disastrous Conservative government but there have been fundamental missteps by some key cabinet members who just haven't read the room, haven't read the backbenchers in their party and haven't read the mood of the nation."

'Masterclass in failure'

Speaking of the Conservatives, they didn't pick up any new MPs in Yorkshire at the election last year, but they still have a decent grip on rural North Yorkshire, where former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak remains in the ranks.

Nigel Huddleston MP, co-chairman of the Conservative Party, says: "Keir Starmer's first year in government has been a masterclass in failure.

"Labour is in chaos, Keir Starmer has lost control, and working people are paying the price."

However, his party has a long way to go before it gets back to where they were in Yorkshire and 2019, when they made big gains here, seems like a long time ago.

Lee Pitcher says he received 10,000 emails within 100 days of being elected

When I arrive in Thorne to chat to Doncaster East and Isle of Axholme's new Labour MP Lee Pitcher he's taking a break from his office duties and packing bags at a local food club.

He was homeless for a while when he was growing up and sees more people in his constituency needing help to buy cheap food.

"I know what it is like to live with absolutely nothing and how difficult that is," Pitcher says.

"So when I see the volunteers here doing their thing for the community, going along and helping them and supporting them for like three or four hours, I love that."

The common theme between all the new MPs I've spoken to is the sudden switch they experienced from their previous life to the life of an MP.

Pitcher recalls: "Within four minutes of being elected at 5am in the morning, I had my first email, and within the first 100 days had about 10,000 emails. And, of course, you know, for that period, you're just on your own until you've got a team in place."

'It's been really, really, really tough'

As the courgettes and tins get put into bags at the food club, there is also the chance for voters to ask him whether Labour is doing a good enough job.

"It's been tough, it's been really, really, really tough," he admits.

"To be frank, the first thing we need to do is stabilise where we are and a lot of that is about finances and that's meant making some really, really tough decisions that do impact people."

Patience is short though. People might have voted Labour in the constituency in 2024, but in this year's local elections Thorne and Moorends elected three Reform UK councillors.

"People vote with their feet... and ultimately, the way you turn things around is... people need to see things happening. People wanted change, that's why they voted for Labour in the first place.

"My plea is for people just to be that bit more patient and you will see the difference that we make."

Iqbal Mohamed says he was confident he would be elected in last year's poll

One of the biggest surprises last year was Dewsbury and Batley electing an Independent MP for the first time since 1907.

But as Iqbal Mohamed sits down in his constituency office, he reveals he was slightly more confident.

"After I got selected I always almost knew that I was going to win the election," he says.

"We just did a massive campaign and I got amazing people to come out and help and I'm just so proud to represent my town."

Mohamed says his election to the House of Commons means he can now campaign for local issues on a national stage.

"Locally, we've got Dewsbury Sports Centre, it was closed two years ago," he says.

"It's a massive loss. We're fighting, it's been permanently closed but I'm in discussions with the government and we're discussing other options in terms of how we could reopen that."

'It really hit me then'

Asked for his initial impressions of working in Parliament, he says: "The chamber's much smaller than you think it is on TV, but to sit there the first day, it was like, am I in a dream?

"I was sat on the stairs opposite the chancellor during the Budget, so that's when I realised I'm here and the chancellor's 15 metres away and I'm listening to the Budget and I'm going to have to vote on it.

"So yeah it really, really hit me then."

Additional reporting by Gemma Dillon, West Yorkshire political reporter