Darren Paul Jones (born 13 November 1986)
is a
British Labour
The Labour Party is a political party in the United Kingdom that has been described as an alliance of social democrats, democratic socialists and trade unionists. The Labour Party sits on the centre-left of the political spectrum. In all gene ...
politician serving as
Chair of the House of Commons Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee since 2020. He also sits on the
National Security Strategy Joint Committee and the
Liaison Committee, which scrutinises the work of the
Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...
. He has been the
Member of Parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...
for
Bristol North West
Bristol North West is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2017 by Darren Jones of the Labour Party.
Constituency profile
The seat covers northwest parts of Bristol, extending to the Severn Estuary. ...
since
2017.
Early life and education
Jones was born in his constituency of Bristol North West and grew up in
Lawrence Weston
Lawrence Weston is a post-war housing estate in northwest Bristol, England, between Henbury and Shirehampton.
The estate is bounded in the east by the Blaise Castle estate and woods. It is at the edge of the Severn flood plain, directly be ...
. He attended Portway Community School in
Shirehampton
Shirehampton is a district of Bristol in England, near Avonmouth, at the northwestern edge of the city.
It originated as a separate village, retains a High Street with a parish church and shops, and is still thought of as a village by many of it ...
, a state comprehensive, before studying human bioscience at the
University of Plymouth
The University of Plymouth is a public research university based predominantly in Plymouth, England, where the main campus is located, but the university has campuses and affiliated colleges across South West England. With students, it is the ...
, where he was subsequently elected President of the
Students' Union
A students' union, also known by many other names, is a student organization present in many colleges, universities, and high schools. In higher education, the students' union is often accorded its own building on the campus, dedicated to social, ...
. Jones worked in the
National Health Service
The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom (UK). Since 1948, they have been funded out of general taxation. There are three systems which are referred to using the " ...
and served on the boards of the
University of Plymouth
The University of Plymouth is a public research university based predominantly in Plymouth, England, where the main campus is located, but the university has campuses and affiliated colleges across South West England. With students, it is the ...
and the
Plymouth NHS Trust, and had a weekly newspaper column in the ''
Plymouth Herald
''The Herald'' is a Reach plc newspaper serving Plymouth. Its website and social media were rebranded as ''Plymouth Live'' in 2018. Its editor is Edd Moore.
Print and online presence
The newspaper's average circulation was 6,430 in the first ...
''. He later studied law at the
University of the West of England
The University of the West of England (also known as UWE Bristol) is a public research university, located in and around Bristol, England.
The institution was know as the Bristol Polytechnic in 1970; it received university status in 1992 and ...
and the
University of Law
, motto_lang = lat
, mottoeng = Let us know the laws and rights
, established = ,2012 (university status)
, closed =
, type = Private, for-profit
, endowment ...
in Bristol before being admitted as a solicitor.
Legal career
Jones specialises in technology law, and initially worked at
Womble Bond Dickinson LLP, before becoming an in-house counsel with
BT, advising on data, privacy, cyber-security, telecommunications and consumer law.
In Bristol, Jones started a successful mentoring programme seeking to bring young people from his old school into the legal profession. He later chaired the Young Lawyers' Network, a nationwide group campaigning for a vote to remain in the European Union in the
2016 referendum, and sat on the board of UK Legal Futures, which brought together leading lawyers to advise politicians and civil servants on legal questions raised by
Brexit
Brexit (; a portmanteau of "British exit") was the withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU) at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February 2020 CET).The UK also left the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or ...
.
Early political career
Jones first fought a general election as Labour's candidate in
Conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...
-held
Torridge and West Devon at the
2010 general election. Jones later sat on the national youth committees of the
Co-operative Party
The Co-operative Party is a centre-left political party in the United Kingdom, supporting co-operative values and principles. Established in 1917, the Co-operative Party was founded by co-operative societies to campaign politically for the fair ...
and
Unite the Union
Unite the Union, commonly known as Unite, is a British and Irish trade union which was formed on 1 May 2007 by the merger of Amicus and the Transport and General Workers' Union (TGWU). Unite is the second largest trade union in the UK (after ...
and was elected to Unite's Regional Political Committee in the South West. In 2012 Jones was selected to contest his home constituency of Bristol North West, which had been gained by the Conservatives in 2010 with Labour falling into third place. Although he increased the Labour vote share by 9 percent, the incumbent MP
Charlotte Leslie
Charlotte Leslie (born 11 August 1978) is a British Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party politician who is the current Director of the Conservative Middle East Council. She was the Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliam ...
was re-elected on the back of a national swing to the Conservatives.
Following the 2015 election, Jones joined the campaign of
Labour leadership hopeful
Andy Burnham
Andrew Murray Burnham (born 7 January 1970) is a British politician who has served as Mayor of Greater Manchester since 2017. He served in Gordon Brown's Cabinet as Chief Secretary to the Treasury from 2007 to 2008, Culture Secretary from 2008 ...
as its South West Co-ordinator, and chaired
Marvin Rees
Marvin Rees (born April 1972) is a British Labour Party politician who has served as the Mayor of Bristol since 2016.
Early life and education
Marvin Rees was brought up in Bristol, partly in Lawrence Weston and Easton, by his British mother ...
' successful campaign to become
Mayor of Bristol
The Mayor of Bristol is the head of government of Bristol and the chief executive of the Bristol City Council. The mayor is a directly elected politician who, along with the 70 members of Bristol City Council, is responsible for the strategic ...
. In 2016 he joined the
Remain campaign in the
EU membership referendum and later worked for the
Clinton campaign in Miami during that year's
US Presidential election
The election of the president and the vice president of the United States is an indirect election in which citizens of the United States who are registered to vote in one of the fifty U.S. states or in Washington, D.C., cast ballots not dire ...
.
Parliamentary career and political positions
At the
2017 general election, Jones was elected the Member of Parliament for
Bristol North West
Bristol North West is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2017 by Darren Jones of the Labour Party.
Constituency profile
The seat covers northwest parts of Bristol, extending to the Severn Estuary. ...
, overturning a Conservative majority of 4,944 on a 9.2 percent swing. In his
maiden speech
A maiden speech is the first speech given by a newly elected or appointed member of a legislature or parliament.
Traditions surrounding maiden speeches vary from country to country. In many Westminster system governments, there is a convention th ...
, Jones noted that he was the first Darren ever elected to Parliament. Between 2017 and 2020, Jones was a member of the cross-party
Science and Technology Committee
Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe.
Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence fo ...
and the
European Scrutiny Committee
The European Scrutiny Committee is a select committee of the House of Commons in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Following Britain's withdrawal from the European Union in January 2020 and the end of the transition period on 31 December 202 ...
. In 2019, then
Deputy Leader of the Labour Party,
Tom Watson, appointed Jones as the Convenor of the
Future Britain Group, which was established following a number of defections from the
Labour Party in a bid to prevent further defections.
Jones was re-elected at the
2019 general election, increasing his majority at an election which saw a significant nationwide swing away from the Labour Party. Following
Keir Starmer's election as Labour leader in April 2020, Jones was appointed
Parliamentary Private Secretary
A Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) is a Member of Parliament (MP) in the United Kingdom who acts as an unpaid assistant to a minister or shadow minister. They are selected from backbench MPs as the 'eyes and ears' of the minister in the H ...
jointly to
Shadow Justice Secretary
In British politics the Shadow Secretary of State for Justice is the member of the Shadow Cabinet who shadows the Secretary of State for Justice
The secretary of state for justice, also referred to as the justice secretary, is a secretary ...
David Lammy
David Lindon Lammy (born 19 July 1972) is an English politician serving as Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs since 2021. A member of the Labour Party, he has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Tottenh ...
and
Shadow Attorney General Charlie Falconer, and served until his election as Chair of the
House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...
Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee
The Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee is a select committee of the House of Commons in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The remit of the committee is to examine the expenditure, administration and policy of the Department for ...
.
Through his
select committee work, Jones has led on issues related to the economy, business and jobs as well as national security and climate change.
Jones has been a prominent campaigner for a number of labour disputes, including the withholding of redundancy payments from
Astra Zeneca
AstraZeneca plc () is a British-Swedish multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company with its headquarters at the Cambridge Biomedical Campus in Cambridge, England. It has a portfolio of products for major diseases in areas includin ...
workers, the campaign to increase miners' pensions through the Mineworkers Pension Scheme, and the historic miscarriage of justice behind the
British Post Office scandal
The British Post Office scandal is a miscarriage of justice involving the wrongful civil and criminal prosecutions of an unknown or unpublished number of sub-postmasters (SPMs) for theft, false accounting and/or fraud. The cases constitute the m ...
. He has criticised the Government for scrapping its
industrial strategy and has called for a sector deal for the
steel industry
Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistant t ...
.
Jones sits on the
National Security Strategy Joint Committee and, following the introduction of the
National Security and Investment Act 2021, became responsible as Chair of the
Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee
The Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee is a select committee of the House of Commons in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The remit of the committee is to examine the expenditure, administration and policy of the Department for ...
for holding the Government to account for its use of national security powers.
Jones introduced the UK's first
citizens assembly on
net zero
Carbon neutrality is a state of net-zero carbon dioxide emissions. This can be achieved by balancing emissions of carbon dioxide with its removal (often through carbon offsetting) or by eliminating emissions from society (the transition to the " ...
to Parliament and attended
COP26
The 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, more commonly referred to as COP26, was the 26th United Nations Climate Change conference, held at the SEC Centre in Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom, from 31 October to 13 November 2021. The ...
in Glasgow as one of the most senior parliamentarians scrutinising Government delivery of
COP26
The 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, more commonly referred to as COP26, was the 26th United Nations Climate Change conference, held at the SEC Centre in Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom, from 31 October to 13 November 2021. The ...
and
net zero
Carbon neutrality is a state of net-zero carbon dioxide emissions. This can be achieved by balancing emissions of carbon dioxide with its removal (often through carbon offsetting) or by eliminating emissions from society (the transition to the " ...
.
In 2021, Jones successfully passed the Forensic Science Regulator Act 2021, having been successful in the ballot for a
Private Members Bill
A private member's bill is a bill (proposed law) introduced into a legislature by a legislator who is not acting on behalf of the executive branch. The designation "private member's bill" is used in most Westminster system jurisdictions, in whi ...
, giving the
forensic science regulator
The Forensic Science Regulator is the regulator of forensic science activities within the United Kingdom's legal system. The regulator is advised by the Forensic Science Advisory Council. The post dates from 2008.
The office of Forensic Science ...
statutory powers to ensure service quality standards from the privatised forensic science companies working with the
police
The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and t ...
.
Jones has been recognised as a leading voice on technology policy. In 2019 he co-chaired a Parliamentary inquiry into technology ethics. He leads the Parliamentary Internet, Communications and Technology Forum and the Data Poverty and Technology and National Security
All Party Parliamentary Groups. In January 2021, during the
Covid
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...
pandemic, he introduced a
Ten Minute Rule Bill seeking to force
internet service provider
An Internet service provider (ISP) is an organization that provides services for accessing, using, or participating in the Internet. ISPs can be organized in various forms, such as commercial, community-owned, non-profit, or otherwise private ...
s to offer a social tariff to families in receipt of
Universal Credit
Universal Credit is a United Kingdom social security payment. It is means-tested and is replacing and combining six benefits for working-age households with a low income: income-related Employment and Support Allowance, income-based Jobseeker's ...
. Jones is the founder and chair of the Institute of AI, a global network of legislators interested in emerging technology regulation, and in 2021 was appointed to the
Online Safety Bill
The Online Safety Bill is a proposed Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom intended to improve internet safety, published as a draft on 12 May 2021. Following the earlier 2019 Online Harms White Paper, the Bill gives the relevant Secretar ...
pre-legislative scrutiny
A bill is proposed legislation under consideration by a legislature. A bill does not become law until it is passed by the legislature as well as, in most cases, approved by the executive. Once a bill has been enacted into law, it is called an '' ...
committee.
Jones is the co-chair of Labour Friends of India, a parliamentary supporter of Labour Friends of Israel, and chairs Labour Digital, a Labour think tank.
Personal life
Jones is married to renewable energy lobbyist and technology entrepreneur Lucy Symons-Jones, who co-founded the renewable energy company Village Infrastructure. They have two daughters.
Jones became a vegan in 2014, for reasons related to carbon emissions and agriculture, although he is sometimes vegetarian.
References
External links
Official website archived on 8 June 2017
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Darren
1986 births
Living people
21st-century English lawyers
Alumni of the University of Plymouth
British Telecom people
English solicitors
Labour Friends of Israel
Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies
Politics of Bristol
UK MPs 2017–2019
UK MPs 2019–present