{{Short description|British politician (born 1964)}} {{for|the cricketer|Jo White (cricketer)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2025}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Jo White | honorific_suffix = MP | image = Official portrait of Jo White MP crop 2.jpg | image_upright = | alt = | caption = Official portrait, 2024 | order = | office = Member of Parliament<br/> for Bassetlaw | predecessor = Brendan Clarke-Smith | term_start = 4 July 2024 | majority = 5,768 (12.9%) | office1 = Member of Bassetlaw District Council<br>for Worksop East | term_start1 = 3 May 2012 | predecessor1 = John Scott | birth_name = Joanna Ruth White | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1964|01|22|df=y}} | birth_place = Stamford, Lincolnshire, England | party = Labour
| | other_party = Labour Friends of Israel<br>Red Wall Caucus | spouse = {{marriage|John Mann|1986}} | alma_mater = University of Manchester }}
'''Joanna Ruth White''' (born 22 January 1964) is a British Labour Party politician serving as Member of Parliament (MP) for Bassetlaw since 2024.
She is chair of the Red Wall Caucus of red wall Labour MPs in Parliament.
== Early life and education == White was born in 1964 in Stamford, Lincolnshire.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Index entry |url=https://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/information.pl?cite=RuSRoHKQVNT8WvxOtgm%2F5w&scan=1 |website=FreeBMD |publisher=ONS}}</ref> She has an identical twin, Deb Davies, who was elected as a Labour councillor in Newport, Wales in 2012.<ref>{{cite news |date=14 May 2012 |title=Newport councillor scoops seat at same time as twin |url=https://www.southwalesargus.co.uk/news/9704960.newport-councillor-scoops-seat-at-same-time-as-twin/ |access-date=1 November 2022 |work=South Wales Argus}}</ref> In 2022, she stated she had recently discovered their partly Jewish ancestry.<ref>{{Cite web |last=White |first=Joanna |title=I'm standing as a Labour candidate because I know they've changed on antisemitism |url=https://www.thejc.com/lets-talk/im-standing-as-a-labour-candidate-because-i-know-theyve-changed-on-antisemitism-tqloh2wc |access-date=2024-07-17 |website=www.thejc.com |date=28 September 2022 |language=en}}</ref>
White studied at the University of Manchester, where she was General Secretary of the Students' Union.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The former student leaders entering Parliament |url=https://wonkhe.com/blogs/the-student-leaders-that-could-be-about-to-enter-parliament/ |access-date=2024-07-16 |website=Wonkhe |language=en-GB}}</ref>
== Political career == White was office manager for her husband John Mann, the Bassetlaw MP from 2003 to 2019.<ref>{{cite news |title=New Girl: No 1: Jo White |work=Private Eye |date=19 July 2024 |page=12}}</ref> She served as chair of the Bassetlaw Constituency Labour Party.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Stewart |first=Heather |date=2019-11-06 |title=Labour accused of 'student union politics' in candidate row |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/nov/06/labour-accused-of-student-union-politics-in-candidate-row |access-date=2024-07-17 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref> She was a member of Unite the Union's executive for over a decade.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kendix |first=Max |date=2024-07-17 |title=The seven tribes of new Labour MPs |url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/seven-tribes-labour-mps-starmer-favourites-left-9b9320608 |access-date=2024-07-17 |website=The Times|language=en}}</ref>
White was first elected as a Member of Bassetlaw District Council for Worksop East in 2012.<ref>{{Cite web |date=5 July 2024 |title=Councillor Jo White |url=https://bassetlaw.moderngov.co.uk/mgUserInfo.aspx?UID=174 |access-date=5 July 2024 |publisher=Bassetlaw District Council}}</ref> She was appointed as the executive member for regeneration in 2013 and became Deputy Leader in 2015.
White was elected as MP for Bassetlaw at the 2024 general election, defeating incumbent Conservative Brendan Clarke-Smith.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Mann |first=Sebastian |date=2022-08-10 |title=Deputy council leader to stand as Labour MP |url=https://www.lincolnshirelive.co.uk/news/local-news/bassetlaw-deputy-council-leader-jo-7444731 |access-date=2024-07-05 |website=Lincolnshire Live |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=O'Neill |first=Ted |date=5 July 2024 |title=Bassetlaw General Election results as Labour's Jo White wins and Brendan Clarke-Smith loses Tory seat |url=https://www.nottinghampost.com/news/local-news/bassetlaw-general-election-results-labours-9381465 |access-date=5 July 2024 |work=Nottingham Post}}</ref>
In 2024, White founded a red wall group of about 35 backbench Labour MPs, sometimes called the Red Wall Caucus, of which she is chair. The group has had meetings with ministers, and after the poor Labour results in the 2025 local elections it lobbied Prime Minister Keir Starmer to promote policies on border control, tackling anti-social behaviour, slow GP access and the cost-of-living for the working-class.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Gibbons |first=Amy |date=25 December 2024 |title=Red Wall MPs tell Starmer to get tough on immigration or we will lose our seats to Reform |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/12/25/red-wall-starmer-get-tough-immigration-lose-seats-reform/ |website=The Telegraph |location=London |url-access=subscription |access-date=1 February 2025}}</ref><ref name=telegraph-20250503>{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2025/05/03/starmer-stop-pussyfooting-labour-red-wall-chief/ |title=Starmer must stop 'pussyfooting around', says Labour Red Wall chief |last=Penna |first=Dominic |website=The Telegraph |location=London |url-access=subscription |date=3 May 2025 |access-date=3 May 2025}}</ref>
White is a Vice-Chair of Labour Friends of Israel.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |date=2024-11-27 |title=Labour Friends of Israel announces three new honorary vice-chairs |url=https://www.lfi.org.uk/labour-friends-of-israel-announces-three-new-honorary-vice-chairs/ |access-date=2024-11-27 |website=Labour Friends of Israel |language=en-US}}</ref>
== Political positions == In May 2025, Jo White publicly urged Keir Starmer to "stop pussy-footing around" and called on him to announce measures including "a national inquiry into grooming gangs, a crackdown on immigration and investment in left-behind industrial heartlands." At the same time, White criticised the decision to restrict the Winter Fuel Payment to pensioners receiving means-tested benefits, likening the policy to the poll tax.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Starmer must stop 'pussyfooting around', says Labour Red Wall chief |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2025/05/03/starmer-stop-pussyfooting-labour-red-wall-chief/ |access-date=2025-10-28 |website=www.telegraph.co.uk}}</ref>
=== Welfare === White supported cuts to several benefits including Universal Credit and changes to the eligibility criteria for the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) announced in the March 2025 United Kingdom spring statement. While endorsing the reforms, White emphasised that "the system must protect the most vulnerable", but argued that parts of the welfare system encouraged "the feckless [and] squeezing out the needy". White also suggested that some families had "adapt[ed] to a lifestyle of living on benefits".<ref>{{Cite web |last=White |first=Jo |date=2025-06-25 |title='The benefits system has become unaffordable - it needs to be reformed' |url=https://labourlist.org/2025/06/welfare-reform-benefits-unaffordable-jo-white/ |access-date=2025-10-28 |website=LabourList |language=en-GB}}</ref>
=== Immigration === White has described illegal immigration as "The key issue in my constituency" and called for the introduction of mandatory identity cards to "reassure voters that illegal immigrants won't get a job or healthcare without one."<ref>{{Cite web |date=2025-02-05 |title=Red Wall Labour MPs want tougher message on immigration to head off Reform |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0lze0lnd25o |access-date=2025-10-28 |website=BBC News |language=en-GB}}</ref> In August 2025, White called upon the government to "act to shut asylum hotels sooner", stating: "We need to make it far more difficult for asylum seekers to want to come to this country."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Burke |first=Dave |date=2025-08-25 |title=Asylum is Labour's 'number 1 priority' as it's warned issue is becoming 'toxic' |url=https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/asylum-labours-number-one-priority-35787748 |access-date=2025-10-28 |website=Daily Mirror |language=en}}</ref>{{better source needed|reason=tabloid|date=November 2025}}
== Personal life == White married John Mann, Baron Mann in 1986, with whom she has three children.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Pridmore |first=Oliver |date=2024-03-14 |title=John Mann cleared over allegation that wife broke rules with leaflets |url=https://www.nottinghampost.com/news/local-news/john-mann-cleared-over-allegation-9166859 |access-date=2024-07-05 |website=Nottinghamshire Live |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Round |first=Simon |title=Interview: John Mann MP |url=https://www.thejc.com/life-and-culture/interview-john-mann-mp-tjwrs3qg |access-date=2024-07-17 |website=www.thejc.com |date=12 February 2009 |language=en}}</ref> A former Labour member was convicted of harassment against White, including mailing her a dead bird in 2012.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2012-05-18 |title=MP John Mann's wife sent dead bird in post |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-18124124 |access-date=2024-07-06 |work=BBC News |language=en-GB}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=White |first=Joanna |title=I'm standing as a Labour candidate because I know they've changed on antisemitism |url=https://www.thejc.com/lets-talk/im-standing-as-a-labour-candidate-because-i-know-theyve-changed-on-antisemitism-tqloh2wc |access-date=2024-07-17 |website=www.thejc.com |date=28 September 2022 |language=en}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
== External links == {{commons category}} {{UK MP links | parliament = 5105 | publicwhip = Jo_White | theywork = 26358 }}
{{s-start}} {{s-par|uk}} {{s-bef|before=Brendan Clarke-Smith}} {{s-ttl|title=Member of Parliament<br>for Bassetlaw|years=2024–present}} {{s-inc}} {{s-end}}
{{Labour Party UK MPs}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:White, Jo}} Category:1964 births Category:Living people Category:21st-century British women politicians Category:Alumni of the University of Manchester Category:Councillors in Nottinghamshire Category:Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies Category:Labour Friends of Israel Category:Labour Party (UK) councillors Category:Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Category:People from Bassetlaw District Category:People from Stamford, Lincolnshire Category:UK MPs 2024–present Category:Women councillors in England Category:Spouses of life peers Category:British baronesses by marriage