Josh MacAlister

Josh MacAlister OBE MP
Official portrait, 2024
Member of Parliament for Whitehaven and Workington
Incumbent
Assumed office 4 July 2024
Preceded by	Constituency established
Majority	13,286 (31.7%)
Personal details
Political party	Labour
Website	joshforwestcumbria.co.uk

Josh MacAlister OBE is a British Labour politician who has been Member of Parliament for Whitehaven and Workington since 2024.^[1][2]

MacAlister's father worked as a social worker.^[3]

MacAlister studied for, and received, an MA (Hons) in politics and social policy at the University of Edinburgh. MacAlister served as President of the Edinburgh University Students’ Association.^[4] In 2008, he unsuccessfully contested the Presidency of the National Union of Students Scotland.

MacAlister also studied for, and received, a masters degree in leadership in education at the University of Manchester.^[5]

MacAlister trained as a teacher through the Teach First Programme and went on to work as a teacher in Oldham.

During his time as a teacher, MacAlister began to engage with young people with experience of the care system. These experiences led MacAlister to establish Frontline, a graduate social worker training programme modeled on Teach First, in 2013.^[3] The first cohort began their training the following year.^[5]

In 2019, the Department for Education provided Frontline with £45 million in funding.^[6]

In January 2021 MacAlister stepped down from his role at Frontline in order to chair an independent review of children's social care.^[6] MacAlister's appointment was criticized by some social work academics who questioned whether he could be impartial given that Frontline had received central government funding.^[6]

In June 2021, the review published its interim findings. In October 2021 the review published a second report in response to the feedback received on the interim report. The final report of the review was published in May 2022.^[7]

MacAlister was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the King's 2023 New Year's Honours for services to vulnerable children. ^[8]

In June 2023, MacAlister was selected as the Labour Party's candidate for the newly created constituency of Whitehaven and Workington.^[9]

At the 2024 general election, MacAlister was elected as the Member of Parliament for Whitehaven and Workington. MacAlister was elected with 53% of the vote and a majority of over 13,000 votes.^[10]

In 2023 MacAlister joined his local mountain rescue team.^[11] In July 2024, shortly after being elected as an MP, MacAlister was called out to a mountain rescue.^[12]

In 2024, PinkNews listed him as an out LGBTQ+ parliamentarian.^[13] He is married to educationalist Matthew Hood.^[14]