Ian Byrne

Byrne disclosed he and his staff had received a possible death threat in August 2022.

Byrne was criticised by some Labour members for putting his interests ahead of more local matters, and for focusing on national campaigns rather than on constituency issues. West Derby Constituency Labour Party branches and affiliates voted to trigger a reselection process for the seat in October 2022. Byrne said that he was "disappointed" by the decision, but announced he would stand for reselection. An opinion in The Guardian compared Byrne's reselection fight to that of other left-wing MPs who were close to Jeremy Corbyn, including Sam Tarry (who was deselected from his seat in Ilford South in favour of leader of Redbridge Council Jas Athwal) and Apsana Begum. Byrne's campaign for reselection was endorsed by Andy Burnham and Steve Rotheram. Byrne had raised concerns about his reselection process in July 2022. He threatened to take legal action after alleging multiple rule breaches. Byrne sought police guidance following alleged intimidation, but his version of events was disputed by supporters of his rival, one of whom called on him to apologise.

On 20 November 2022 he narrowly won his reselection battle.

Byrne was named as "Overall MP of the Year" for 2021 by the Patchwork Foundation, who recognized his campaigning against food insecurity and workers' rights during the COVID-19 pandemic.

On 14 December 2021, Byrne voted in favour of the Conservative government's 'Plan B' COVID-19 restrictions, including for an expansion of mask mandates and the introduction of vaccine passports. However, he was one of 22 Labour MPs who voted against mandatory vaccination of NHS staff.

Byrne is on the left of the Labour Party and was a supporter of the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn. He is a member of the Socialist Campaign Group and backed his Campaign Group colleagues Rebecca Long-Bailey and Richard Burgon in the 2020 Labour leadership election and deputy leadership election.

In 2020, Byrne launched a campaign for the Right to Food to be written into UK law.

On 3 November 2019, Byrne was selected as the Labour candidate for Liverpool West Derby, after the previous Labour MP Stephen Twigg announced he would be standing down at the 2019 general election. Byrne won the "chaotic" selection process by three votes against Liverpool Wavertree local councillor Angela Coleman. It is thought that Byrne only won the nomination by three votes. Byrne apologised when it was reported he had posted racist, misogynistic and homophobic comments on his Facebook account, as well as a comment mocking the disabled; the Facebook account was then deleted. Byrne faced calls to stand down as a candidate following the controversy. Labour shadow Chancellor John McDonnell publicly stood by Byrne's nomination, despite the controversy.

On 12 December 2019, Byrne was elected with 34,117 votes. This represented 77.6% of the vote share, a reduction of 5.2% from the previous election (compared to a nationwide reduction of 7.9% in Labour's share of the vote).

In 2018, Byrne was elected as a councillor to Liverpool City Council, representing the Everton ward alongside Labour's Cllr Jane Corbett and Cllr Frank Prendergast MBE. He continued to serve as a local councillor after becoming an MP, donating his councillor's allowance to Vauxhall Law Centre. In 2022, Byrne stood down from his council seat and was succeeded by his daughter, Ellie.

In 2015, Byrne co-founded Fans Supporting Foodbanks, a community initiative by football fans to tackle food poverty in Liverpool. Before becoming an MP, he worked with Dan Carden in the neighbouring constituency of Liverpool Walton.

Ian Robert Byrne (born 1972) is a British Labour Party politician. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Liverpool West Derby since the 2019 general election. He is a member of the Socialist Campaign Group parliamentary caucus.