'MPs don't like me for that' - Hannah Spencer vs the Commons (original) (raw)

100 days ago, voters in Gorton and Denton elected Hannah Spencer as their MP. Here's what she's been up to since then

In her first 100 days as MP, Hannah Spencer has challenged Westminster norms, been jeered during PMQs, and clashed with colleagues over the Commons' drinking culture.

Now the Gorton and Denton MP is reflecting on her "wild" first few months, insisting she has no intention of changing course.

Ms Spencer, known as "Hannah the Plumber" to many, says her experience of being a tradesperson inside Westminster has left her more convinced than ever that its culture is out of step with the public.

Click here for the latest on Greater Manchester's politics in our newsletter

While some MPs have been "very welcoming" despite party divides, others, she says, "aren't happy" that she's challenged them.

In an interview with the Manchester Evening News from Westminster, Ms Spencer said: "If I think it’s not right, I’ve called it out. I know that’s not maybe very popular, but it means more to me what people in Gorton and Denton think of their MP than it does people whispering in the corridors about me here.

"MPs are on record complaining about the fact I’ve challenged the drinking culture. That’s clear. They don’t like me for that. You can watch Prime Minister’s Questions and see MPs aren’t happy that I’ve challenged them. But that’s what I’m here to do."

In April, Ms Spencer hit the headlines after revealing she felt "really uneasy" about the prevalence of drinking in Westminster, claiming "you can smell the alcohol when people are in between votes".

A month later, when she asked Sir Keir Starmer during Prime Minister's Questions if he agrees with MPs "drinking on the job", Ms Spencer says she was met with "booing and jeering" from colleagues. But she insists the reception from the public has been wildly different.

"Inside that chamber, when they were booing and jeering and telling me to get a life, I’ve never felt more confident in the face of those people because I thought the mood of the nation is with me," Ms Spencer said, adding that a YouGov poll revealed 76 per cent of people agree that MPs shouldn’t be drinking at work.

"I can step outside of here and know that I’m representing what the majority of people feel.

"I’ve had so many people tell me, from across all different political parties, 'I never thought I’d agree with the Greens,' or 'I don’t agree with you on everything, but you’re right'.

"I think that is my values. We won’t all agree on the same detailed policies, but if your values and morals align, that’s what’s important."

She has also criticised the Prime Minister for not giving her a direct answer to her question, claiming Sir Keir's response "proves that [PMQs] is a pantomime".

Green MP Hannah Spencer on her biggest eye-openers as an MP

"I asked a question because I wanted people to know what the Prime Minister of this country thinks about people getting drunk at work," she says. "I think people have a right to know what he thinks about that."

"That’s my only opportunity to ask him those questions. You don’t get to ask a question every week…that was my chance and he dodged it. I don’t think that’s being accountable."

Ms Spencer has also been outspoken about how being a plumber in politics has often left her feeling like she doesn't fit in. She says she's using that as a driving force to make the culture "more accessible to more people".

"It is really big to create an inclusive environment, but I know I’m different" Ms Spencer explains. "I heard from someone that a government minister I shook hands with - I don’t know who they were - commented that my hands feel really rough and said, 'You can tell that she’s done a really manual job'.

"I thought that was really interesting because that’s the life of a tradesperson. Our hands get rough. You wash them so many times a day and your skin gets cracked.

"I can just tell people really aren’t used to someone different here. In the same way, when I was a plumber and I was an 18-year-old young woman, I thought, I have to make it easier for the next young girl or woman who comes into this industry.

"That’s what I’m thinking now. I want it to be easier for the next lot of MPs who come in and aren’t from the background that a lot of people here are from."

And, strangely, for the second time in 2026, politics and plumbing have come face-to-face in yet another by-election in Greater Manchester. This time, Rob Kenyon, Reform UK's candidate in the upcoming Makerfield by-election, is a plumber by trade.

"We need more plumbers, scaffolders, plasterers - we need loads of different jobs in [Westminster]," Ms Spencer says, but claims Reform "needs to go back to the drawing board" with their candidate.

Mr Kenyon has faced criticism throughout his campaign for past online comments about women. A series of controversial posts include a deleted X post in which the @robkenyon1 account shared a sexually explicit post sent to Carol Vorderman on her birthday, saying the poster wanted to perform a sexual act on the presenter, with the comment: "He's only saying what we're all thinking."

Ms Vorderman branded Mr Kenyon a "little coward" as she sent a letter to thousands of women in Makerfield, urging them not to vote for Reform. The plumber and local councillor has admitted he made a "disgusting comment", but has not apologised.

On that, Ms Spencer said: "People are really angry about what he said about women and the fact that he won't apologise.

"I acknowledge that people have a past and can say things they wouldn’t say now. He’s been given more than a fair crack to apologise and he’s just not taken it up. So Reform needs to go back to the drawing board, I think."

She also praised the Green Party's Makerfield by-election candidate, Sarah Wakefield, for calling on Mr Kenyon to apologise to Ms Vorderman for the comments.

"We are a party with lots of women in it who will bravely stick our heads out, even if we know that will bring us abuse and say, I’m going to call you out on this.

"Sarah - I know her really well. She’s incredible. When I watched that Question Time, I was really moved because I could see the emotion in her. I could see the anger, but she was really composed and she was still sticking by everything."

Ultimately, Ms Spencer believes the Makerfield by-election and possible subsequent Labour leadership challenge "sums up the Labour Party as a real mess".

She said: "I really wish [Labour] had listened to people two years ago. If they’d been out knocking on doors like we are and actually speaking to people, they would have sensed that something needed to change.

"We’re potentially having a by-election in Makerfield and then possibly a mayoral by-election [if Andy Burnham wins]. That will cost millions.

"At a time when one in three children live in poverty, we’re potentially going to spend millions of pounds on elections because the Labour Party is in a mess. I don’t think the entire country should have to pay the price for that."

So, after 100 days of experience as an MP, what would Ms Spencer tell "Hannah the Plumber" on day one?

"The fact that nothing prepared me for it has been part of it, in some ways. So if I went back, I wouldn’t change anything," she says.

"When I look back now I wish I could remember every single interaction I had with people, on the street and in here. Savour every moment. That would be my advice to day-one me.

"I think I did, but I’d just love to go back and relive that."