Matthew Thomas Pennycook (born 29 October 1982) is a British Labour Party politician who was elected the Member of Parliament (MP) for Greenwich and Woolwich in 2015.

[6] Pennycook studied History and International Relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science, graduating with a first-class Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in 2005.

[16] After the referendum results were announced, Pennycook was appointed one of the Shadow Ministers for Brexit in October 2016,[17] and, in accordance with the Labour Party whip, voted for the Bill to trigger Article 50.

He stated in an interview that "The crisis in teacher retention in London did not begin the day before yesterday, yet this Tory government still has no coherent plan to address the problem and no appetite to get to grips with the underlying drivers – workload, stagnant pay, rising living costs and a lack of genuinely affordable housing to rent and buy – that lie behind this worrying trend.

"[21] In September 2019, he resigned as shadow Brexit minister in order to campaign actively in favour of holding a second referendum and unequivocally for the UK to stay in the EU.

[23][24][25] Pennycook returned to the Opposition frontbench as Shadow Minister for Climate Change, following Keir Starmer's victory in the 2020 Labour Party leadership election.

[31][32] Compared to other Labour ministers, he was recognised as having good experience in the housing sector, having tabled numerous amendments to the Renters (Reform) Bill during the previous Parliament.