2001–10 First elected at the 2001 general election, on 8 July 2007, he became
Parliamentary Private Secretary to
Shaun Woodward, the
Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. In July 2008, Marris received the "Backbencher of the Year" award from
The House, the magazine of the House of Commons. Marris spoke in a "well above average" number of parliamentary debates and had a "well above average" voting record. Marris emerged well from the May 2009 political scandal of
MPs expenses disclosures being listed as a "saint", with minimal claims for second home. However, he was defeated in the 2010 general election by
Paul Uppal of the
Conservative Party.
2015–17 In May 2013, Marris was once again selected as the Labour Party's Parliamentary candidate for Wolverhampton South West in the
2015 General Election. Marris expressed concern about
zero hour contracts, foodbanks and workers earnings below living wages and whilst Uppal highlighted the improvement in community relations. The bill was praised by
Philip Collins, a leader writer for
The Times as "a sophisticated and humane attempt" to clarify the law before the courts do so and which unlike religion "will actually ease suffering."
Archbishop Welby's subsequent objections were described as "histrionic" and lacking any religious reason. The bill was rejected by 330 to 118. A
marginal at the 2015 general election, Marris regained Wolverhampton South West with a majority of 801 votes. He was appointed
Shadow Financial Secretary to the Treasury by
Jeremy Corbyn in September 2015. On 30 June 2016, Marris resigned during the
committee stage hearings on the
Finance Bill and reportedly called on Corbyn to resign along with a number of Parliamentary colleagues preceding the
2016 leadership election. During the
2020 Labour Party leadership election, a video emerged of candidate
Rebecca Long-Bailey, who at the time of the ultimately unsuccessful 2016 leadership challenge had been in post as
Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury for 3 days, accusing Marris of having his assistant delete shared
Shadow Cabinet files after resigning in an attempt to undermine loyalist frontbenchers. Marris strongly denied there was any malicious intent and said that his assistant deleted the files because the document was created by his Parliamentary office and was not the property of the Labour Party. Marris stood down at the
2017 general election, His successor,
Eleanor Smith, held the seat for Labour with an increased majority of 2,185. == Personal life ==