A member of the Labour party, he has served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Sentencing and as a Lord Commissioner of the Treasury since July 2024.

[8] While teaching at John Leggott College, he was also a local councillor for Kingsway with Lincoln Gardens and then leader of North Lincolnshire Council from 1997 to 2003.

After Jeremy Corbyn won the leadership of the Labour Party in September 2015, Dakin was made Shadow Minister for Schools.

[2] Dakin was the chair of several All-Party Parliamentary Groups (APPGs) including: Steel and Metal Related Industries, Pancreatic Cancer, Education, Skills and Employment, and Bioethanol until his election defeat.

In November 2024, Dakin voted in favour of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, which proposes to legalise assisted suicide.

[17] He married Audrey Balsom in 1979 in Leicester; his wife was a midwife, and a representative of the National Childbirth Trust, and the Royal College of Midwives.