Rother Valley comes first, insists Justice Minister

Rother Valley MP Jake Richards insists his demanding job as a Justice Minister has not stopped him being as active as ever in the constituency he represents.

"My government role does not really affect my role as a constituency MP. My constituency comes first," he said, just over a year after becoming a minister.

Richards said he was campaigning against Whitestone, a proposed large-scale solar farm development originally planned to cover thousands of acres of countryside and agricultural land across several sites in South Yorkshire.

The developer has since reduced the scheme, but Richards continues to oppose it over its scale and potential impact on the countryside, local communities and infrastructure.

He also pointed to his efforts to secure more police and youth services for local towns and villages, alongside millions of pounds in investment.

"I am in the constituency just as much as before, holding surgeries, coffee mornings, and campaign events across Rotherham," he told the Advertiser.

Elected as Labour MP for Rother Valley in July 2024, Richards became a Justice Minister in September 2025.

He was reappointed in July 2026 with responsibility for sentencing, human rights and technology, alongside youth justice.

The 37-year-old former barrister says he is proud to be the first MP for Rother Valley to serve in Government since the Second World War.

Before entering Parliament, he specialised in public and family law, and was called to the Bar in 2017. His legal experience informs his work on reforms affecting children, families and the wider justice system.

One of his major priorities has been youth justice. A Government white paper published in May set out plans for earlier intervention to prevent children becoming involved in crime, while ensuring persistent offenders face appropriate consequences.

Richards described it as "the biggest transformation in youth justice in a generation."

The aim is to combine punishment with rehabilitation, helping young offenders turn their lives around and reducing repeat offending.

His work also covers family justice, where the Government wants to reduce delays that can leave parents and children waiting years for decisions.

"Too often families are waiting years for an outcome, which causes real damage," he says.

Plans include better protection for domestic abuse victims and wider use of child-focused courts, which assess a child's needs at the start of proceedings.

Richards has also defended the need for sentencing changes amid a shortage of prison places. He said the previous Government's closure of 23 prisons had left the system short of capacity and in a "really dangerous" situation.

The Government is building more prisons, in what Richards described as "the biggest prison building programme since the Victorian era". Some sentencing arrangements were subsequently amended to ensure, for example, that rapists were excluded from the new regime, he added.

Richards's route to Parliament began in law. He studied history at Somerville College, Oxford, and was called to the Bar in 2017 before practising as a barrister until his election.

Originally from Tottenham in north London, he moved to Yorkshire with his family. His wife is from Wickersley, and wanted their daughter to grow up in Yorkshire.

The challenge for Richards now is to balance family life and delivering change in Westminster while keeping Rother Valley firmly at the heart of his work.