Luke Akehurst was elected as Member of Parliament for North Durham on 4th July 2024. Luke is 52, married with two sons, and was educated at Bristol University. During the General Election Luke lived in Sacriston and he has now moved into the Tanfield ward. Luke joined the Labour Party in 1988 as a 16-year-old as he was angry about the poverty and inequality caused by the Thatcher years.
He has a long record of service at every level of the Labour Party, including twelve years as a councillor, two previous parliamentary candidatures in 2001 and 2005, and a total of six years on Labour’s National Executive Committee (NEC), topping the ballot among party members across the country in 2020 and 2022. He now represents the Parliamentary Labour Party on the NEC.
Luke played a leading role as Co-Director of the Labour to Win group in supporting the changes Keir Starmer made to return the Labour Party to electability after 2020. He was heavily involved in the battle against antisemitism in the Labour Party. At a national level Luke is particularly interested in defence policy and ensuring the Armed Forces are properly funded and equipped to deal with the security threats the UK faces.
In 2009 Luke survived a life-threatening neurological illness, POEMS Syndrome, which left him disabled, after treatment with radiotherapy, five months in hospital, and a further nine months of physiotherapy to learn to walk again. This experience means Luke is passionate about the NHS and disability issues.
Luke’s priorities for North Durham are to secure new jobs and investment for local people, revitalise our town centres in Chester-le-Street and Stanley, get better public transport links, and fight for funding to restore local public services.
Luke enjoys meeting people and organisations from across the communities of North Durham – to arrange to see him contact him here.