Elections and constituency Sobel first stood for Parliament at the
2005 general election as the Labour candidate in
Beaconsfield, coming third with 19.4% of the vote behind the Conservative incumbent,
Dominic Grieve, and the
Liberal Democrat candidate. At the
2015 general election, Sobel stood in
Leeds North West, coming second with 30.1% of the vote behind the incumbent
Liberal Democrat,
Greg Mulholland. During the election, Sobel and the Leeds North West Labour Party were required to publish an apology leaflet and pay legal costs after falsely claiming that
Mulholland had voted for the
Academies Act 2010. At the snap
2017 general election, Sobel was elected as the MP for Leeds North West with 44.1% of the vote and a majority of 4,224. He was re-elected in
2019 with an increased vote share of 48.6% and a majority of 10,749. Following the 2023
boundary review, the
Headingley and
Weetwood wards were transferred from Leeds North West into the newly created constituency of
Leeds Central and Headingley. At the
2024 general election, Sobel stood in the new seat and was elected with 50.2% of the vote, and a majority of 8,422 over the second-placed
Green Party candidate, on a turnout of 45%.
Labour Party roles In December 2015, Sobel co-founded
Open Labour, an internal Labour Party pressure group representing the
soft left tradition within the party. In July 2019, Sobel was appointed
Parliamentary Private Secretary to the
Shadow Foreign Secretary Emily Thornberry. In April 2020, he was appointed
Shadow Minister for the Arts, Heritage and Tourism, and in December 2021, he became Shadow Minister for Nature Recovery and the Domestic Environment; a position he held until the September 2023
shadow cabinet reshuffle. Sobel is a founding member of
Mainstream, a centre-left network within the
Labour Party launched in September 2025.
Committee membership and APPG roles Sobel has sat on the
Joint Committee on Human Rights since November 2024. He served on the
Environmental Audit Committee from September 2017 until February 2021, including on a fact-finding visit to the
Arctic Circle. He holds several
All-Party Parliamentary Group roles, including serving as chair of the Ukraine, Fair Elections, Global Deforestation and
West Papua APPGs, and as co-chair of the Students and Music APPGs.
Climate and environment On 15 March 2019, Sobel spoke at a
Youth Strike for Climate rally in Leeds, praising the city council's declaration of a
climate emergency. In October 2019, despite warnings from the
Metropolitan Police that he could face arrest, Sobel publicly supported and spoke at an
Extinction Rebellion occupation of Westminster, arguing that the government's failure to act on emissions required
direct action. In December 2019, he founded and chaired the Net Zero APPG to advocate for clean industrial policy and accelerate the UK's transition away from fossil fuels. In March 2021, he wrote to Housing Secretary
Robert Jenrick on behalf of the Group for Action on Leeds Bradford Airport, urging
MHCLG to review approval of
Leeds Bradford Airport's expansion on the grounds that it conflicted with Britain's
carbon emissions reduction targets. Sobel has represented the UK at international climate and nature summits, including the
UN Climate Change Conference COP26—when he was the
Inter-Parliamentary Union Rapporteur and met with
Pope Francis—as well as the
UN Convention on Biodiversity Conference
COP16. In July 2023, the
New Statesman named Sobel among a small group of Labour MPs with a strong grasp of climate and nature policy.
Wildlife and Countryside Link CEO, Richard Benwell, described him as appearing to have a "Hermione Granger-style
time turner, because he is indefatigable in turning up to almost every environment event". Sobel has been an advocate for the
Climate and Nature Bill, co-sponsoring it in the 2020–21 and 2021–22 parliamentary sessions before presenting it himself in March 2024. He also co-sponsored the bill when it was reintroduced by
Roz Savage in October 2024. At its second reading in January 2025, debate was adjourned by 120 votes to 7, and Sobel was subsequently appointed a vice-chair of the cross-party group, the
Climate and Nature Crisis Caucus.
Ukraine and international affairs Sobel chairs the
Ukraine APPG and Labour Friends of Ukraine, and has led five parliamentary delegations to the country, including driving aid convoys to frontline cities such as
Kharkiv. He has called for stronger
UK support for Ukraine's defence and reconstruction, including the repurposing of frozen Russian state assets to fund recovery efforts, and led a debate on non-recognition of Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine. In January 2025, Sobel was appointed the
Prime Minister's Trade Envoy to Ukraine, a non-ministerial role focused on identifying trade and investment opportunities for British businesses. Sobel has highlighted the potential for Leeds to play a role in Ukraine's
post-war reconstruction, noting the city hosts the UK's largest annual infrastructure event and is
twinned with Kharkiv.
Other parliamentary activity In January 2020, Sobel apologised after receiving criticism for meeting the director of
Population Matters, a charity focused on
human population size, which some commentators regard as promoting controversial views on
population control. In October 2020, Sobel joined with parliamentarians from the US, Israel, Canada and Australia to launch an Inter-parliamentary Task Force to Combat Online Antisemitism, aimed at holding
social media platforms accountable for the spread of
antisemitism and
conspiracy theories. Later, in December 2025, a constituent was sentenced to eight weeks in prison for sending over 300
antisemitic and threatening messages to Sobel's office, an act the judge stated "undermines the democratic process". In July 2025, he was among more than 100 Labour MPs who co-signed a letter urging the UK Government to formally recognise a
Palestinian state and facilitate unhindered humanitarian aid to
Gaza. In the same month, during the
passage of the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill, Sobel voted on two occasions against the Labour majority to oppose proposed cuts to
disability benefits, one of a small number of rebellions he has recorded against the party line. ==Personal life==