James McGovern (born 17 November 1956 in Glasgow) is a British politician, and is the Labour Member of Parliament for the Dundee West.

McGovern was educated at the Catholic Lawside Academy in Dundee and became a glazier. In 1987, after being made redundant, he worked as a glazier for Dundee City Council. During ten years service with the council, he was a trade union official and was an elected representative on Tayside Regional Council between 1994 and 1996. Prior to his election he had been full time organiser of the GMB union since 1997.

He was first elected to the British House of Commons at the 2005 general election for Dundee West with a 14.6% majority, following the retirement of the sitting Labour MP Ernie Ross. Since 2005 he has served on the Scottish Affairs Committee, and from 2007 he has served as the Parliamentary Private Secretary to Pat McFadden the Minister of State at the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, before resigning over the row surrounding the privatisation of Royal Mail.