At the
2005 general election, Madders stood as the
Labour candidate in
Tatton, coming second with 23.5% of the vote behind the incumbent
Conservative MP
George Osborne. Madders was elected to Parliament at the
2015 general election as MP for
Ellesmere Port and Neston with 47.8% of the vote and a majority of 6,275. In September 2015, Madders was appointed Shadow Minister for Secondary Care, Workforce and Patient Health. He remained in this position until March 2019, when he resigned from his frontbench position, after defying the Labour whip in a vote on a
second Brexit referendum. He supported
Owen Smith in the failed attempt to replace
Jeremy Corbyn in the
2016 Labour leadership election. At the snap
2017 general election, Madders was re-elected as MP for Ellesmere Port and Neston with an increased vote share of 59.2% and an increased majority of 11,390. Madders was appointed the
Shadow Minister for Business, Employment Rights and Levelling Up in July 2018, before also resigning this post in March 2019. In April 2020, Madders was re-appointed as the
Shadow Minister for Secondary Care, Workforce and Patient Health by the new Labour leader
Keir Starmer. Madders was appointed to the
Starmer ministry in July 2024. He left government at the
2025 British cabinet reshuffle. ==Personal life==