At the
2010 general election, Perkins was elected as MP for
Chesterfield, defeating the incumbent
Liberal Democrat Paul Holmes, and winning with 39% of the vote and a majority of 549. Following Perkins' election to Parliament in 2010, he asked a question in
David Cameron's first
Prime Minister's Questions as Prime Minister and was named by the
Financial Times as one of the best six newcomers of the first 100 days of the 2010 parliament. He backed
David Miliband for the Labour leadership. Under
Ed Miliband, Perkins became the first of the 2010 intake of new members to speak from the front bench when becoming a Shadow Education Minister in September 2010 under
Andy Burnham. He was moved into the Shadow Business team as Shadow Minister for Enterprise and Small Business in 2011, under
Chuka Umunna. As Shadow Business Minister he was responsible for Labour's policies on Access to Finance, Small Businesses, Regulation and de-regulation, Insolvency, Procurement, Pubs and the High Street. In July 2014,
Douglas Alexander appointed Perkins one of three Labour Party Deputy Chairs for the 2015 general election campaign, alongside
Gloria De Piero and
Jonathan Ashworth. He had previously run Labour's
by-election campaign in
Wythenshawe and Sale East. He also worked on by-election campaigns in Corby, Bradford West and Eastleigh. At the
2015 general election, Perkins was re-elected as the MP for Chesterfield with an increased vote share of 47.9% and an increased majority of 13,598. Perkins belongs to
Labour Friends of Israel and
Labour Friends of Palestine and the Middle East. He is the current chair of the All Party Parliamentary Pub Group, the All Party Parliamentary group on Tennis and was chair of the Labour Friends of the Forces from January 2016 to October 2020. In Parliament Perkins has led Opposition Day debates for Labour on pub company regulation, Sunday trading laws for the Olympics, and on the Deregulation Bill alongside
Chi Onwurah. He has secured adjournment debates against Derbyshire fire station closures, which led to a U-turn on plans to close 18 Derbyshire fire stations, and against the sale of legal highs. Perkins proposed in 2016, via a 10-minute
private members' bill, that "
God Save the Queen" should cease to be the anthem used by English teams at international sporting fixtures. The second reading was due for 4 March, but was cancelled. Perkins was Shadow Minister for the Armed Forces in the Shadow Cabinet of
Jeremy Corbyn. However, he resigned on 27 June 2016, along with many of his colleagues. He then supported
Owen Smith in the failed attempt to replace
Jeremy Corbyn in the
2016 Labour leadership election. He nominated
Keir Starmer in the 2020 Labour Party leadership contest. He campaigned for the UK to remain a member of the
European Union ahead of the
EU Referendum on 23 June 2016. In October 2016, Perkins supported the
Saudi-led intervention in the Yemeni civil war against the Shia
Houthis. At the
2017 general election, Perkins was again re-elected, with an increased vote share of 54.8% and a decreased majority of 9,605. He was again re-elected at the
2019 general election, with a decreased vote share of 40.2% and a decreased majority of 1,451. In April 2020, Perkins was appointed as
Shadow Minister for Apprenticeships and Lifelong Learning by new party leader
Keir Starmer. In the
2023 British shadow cabinet reshuffle, he became Shadow Minister for Rural Affairs. Perkins was again re-elected at the
2024 general election, with an increased vote share of 46.5% and an increased majority of 10,820. On 11 September 2024, Perkins was elected as chair of the
Environmental Audit Select Committee. == Personal life ==