[12][13] After leaving university Jones worked for Mo Mowlam, Labour Member of Parliament for Redcar and Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.

[15] Jones served as a senior civil servant and was part of the team delivering the 2012 London Olympic and Paralympic Games.

After leaving the Civil Service in 2012, Jones worked in a series of roles in the public and private sector, including at Gatwick Airport, where she campaigned for a second runway.

Despite achieving a 5.9% swing to Labour, Jones narrowly lost by 165 votes to the incumbent Conservative MP Gavin Barwell.

Jones criticised politicians' failure to listen to Grenfell victims before the disaster, and called on the Government to retrofit sprinklers in all council tower blocks.

[25] The speech received widespread coverage for being the first time Croydon rapper Stormzy was quoted in Parliament, with Jones warning MPs: "You're never too big for the boot.

From the Labour frontbench, Jones has called on the Government to implement fire safety reform and secure protections for leaseholders.

[36] In April 2020, Leader of the Opposition Sir Keir Starmer appointed Jones as Shadow Minister for Police and the Fire Service.

Jones tabled various measures to improve the Bill, including amendments to better protect the rights of victims, protect key workers, support the police, learn the lessons from serious violence, safeguard children, prevent violence against women and girls and tackle child criminal exploitation across the county.

Jones also tabled a series of amendments to ensure there is proper consideration of disproportionality before Serious Violence Reduction Orders can come into force.

On rising rates of knife crime, Jones has said,[39] While parliamentary farce and stalemate continues, the reality for our country is regression.

Mowlam's starting point, according to Jones, was her 'total joy of humanity...a pragmatism to get things moving' and a commitment to working 'the common ground'.

During the passage of the Public Order Act, Jones gave vocal support from the Labour frontbench to amendments delivering so-called 'buffer zones' around abortion clinics.