She became Member of Parliament (MP) for Bristol West at the 2015 general election, when she defeated the incumbent Liberal Democrat MP Stephen Williams.
Shortly after being elected, Debbonaire was diagnosed with breast cancer, and did not attend a parliamentary vote from June 2015 until March 2016.In January 2016, she was appointed shadow Arts and Culture Minister until resigning on 27 June 2016 (among many others) because of her lack of confidence in the Labour Party Leader, Jeremy Corbyn.
She rejoined his front bench team as a whip in October that year.