Linsey Farnsworth was elected Labour MP for Amber Valley on 4 July 2024 with a majority of 3,554 (8.3 percent), defeating Conservative incumbent Nigel Mills who had held the seat since 2010. Before entering Parliament she spent 21 years as a Crown Prosecutor at the Crown Prosecution Service, including as a senior prosecutor in the East Midlands handling serious criminal cases. Her primary career was prosecuting criminals, not local government.

Born Linsey Jayne Farnsworth in Ilkeston, she was raised in Erewash, Derbyshire, and was the first person in her family to attend university. She qualified as a solicitor and joined the CPS, where she spent over two decades prosecuting cases including serious violent crime. That was not a career in policy development or community politics. It was 21 years of courtroom work, evidence assessment, charging decisions and trial advocacy in one of the most demanding branches of the legal profession.

Her local government service was brief. She was elected to Amber Valley Borough Council in May 2023 for the Kilburn, Denby, Holbrook and Horsley ward, becoming the first Labour councillor to represent the ward in over 20 years. She also won seats on the parish councils of Horsley and Kilburn. She resigned from the borough council in March 2025. Her total council service was under two years.

Since entering Parliament she has been appointed to the Justice Committee (since October 2024), the Unauthorised Entry to Football Matches Bill Committee (since June 2025), and the Courts and Tribunals Bill Committee (since March 2026). The Justice Committee placement is directly relevant to her prosecutorial career and places her where she can scrutinise the criminal justice system she worked inside for two decades. Her top parliamentary sparring partner is the Conservative Shadow Justice Minister Kieran Mullan, confirming her focus on justice issues.

She has voted in more than 450 divisions with one rebellion: she was one of 25 Labour MPs to vote against the Crime and Policing Bill in June 2025. A former Crown Prosecutor rebelling on a policing bill is a vote cast from professional knowledge rather than factional loyalty.

Amber Valley covers Alfreton, Heanor, Ripley and surrounding villages in eastern Derbyshire. It is a mix of former industrial communities and rural Derbyshire. The constituency has been marginal between Labour and the Conservatives since its creation: Labour held it 1983-2010, Conservatives 2010-2024. Her 8.3 percent majority is moderate but not safe.

Farnsworth's strengths include 21 years of CPS prosecutorial experience providing genuine criminal justice expertise, Justice Committee appointment matching her specialism, first-in-family university education demonstrating social mobility, a rebellion on policing legislation grounded in professional knowledge, and local roots in Derbyshire. Her weaknesses include a modest 8.3 percent majority in a historically marginal seat, brief council experience (under two years), limited national visibility, and no ministerial office. At an age not publicly recorded, she is one of the few MPs in the current Parliament with extensive courtroom experience. The Justice Committee is exactly where she belongs.