Richard Younger-Ross
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Richard Alan Younger-Ross (born Richard Alan Ross, 29 January 1953) is a politician in
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
. He was the
Liberal Democrat Several political party, political parties from around the world have been called the Liberal Democratic Party or Liberal Democrats. These parties usually follow a liberal democracy, liberal democratic ideology. Active parties Former parties ...
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 ...
(MP) for
Teignbridge Teignbridge is a local government district in Devon, England. Its council is based in Newton Abbot. Other towns in the district include Ashburton, Buckfastleigh, Dawlish and Teignmouth. It is named for the old Teignbridge hundred. The ...
from 2001 to 2010, having contested the seat in
1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...
and
1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...
, finally winning in the 2001 election. He was defeated in the redefined
Newton Abbot Newton Abbot is a market town and civil parish on the River Teign in the Teignbridge District of Devon, England. Its 2011 population of 24,029 was estimated to reach 26,655 in 2019. It grew rapidly in the Victorian era as the home of the Sou ...
constituency in 2010 election. In 2013 he fought and won the
Devon County Council Devon County Council is the county council administering the English county of Devon. Based in the city of Exeter, the council covers the non-metropolitan county area of Devon. Members of the council (councillors) are elected every four years to ...
seat of Teignmouth Town, but four years later, on 4 May 2017, he lost his seat to Sylvia Russell, a Conservative, by just 22 votes.


Early life

Richard Younger-Ross was born in Surrey in 1953. He attended Walton County Secondary School for Boys, Brooklands Technical College in
Weybridge Weybridge () is a town in the Borough of Elmbridge in Surrey, England, around southwest of central London. The settlement is recorded as ''Waigebrugge'' and ''Weibrugge'' in the 7th century and the name derives from a crossing point of the ...
, then Ewell Technical College. He studied at Oxford Polytechnic, now
Oxford Brookes University Oxford Brookes University (formerly known as Oxford Polytechnic (United Kingdom), Polytechnic) is a public university, public university in Oxford, England. It is a new university, having received university status through the Further and High ...
. Before becoming a politician, he was an architectural consultant. His first, unsuccessful, candidacy for Parliament was at
Chislehurst Chislehurst () is a suburban district of south-east London, England, in the London Borough of Bromley. It lies east of Bromley, south-west of Sidcup and north-west of Orpington, south-east of Charing Cross. Before the creation of Greater L ...
in
1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...
.


Parliamentary career

He was a member of the Defence Select Committee and was the Lib Dem Spokesperson for Heritage. In 2003, he voted against parliamentary approval for the invasion of Iraq. He was a member of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee between 2005 and 2008. In 2005 he proposed amendments to the Water Bill to create a water charge equalisation scheme to reduce the very high costs of water in the South West. This proposal is being considered by the Government following the Walker Report. In 2006, Younger-Ross proposed a Ten Minute Rule Bill restricting Sunday trading hours in the UK for shops, arguing that without such legislation the British people would lose "rhythm of life" (House of Commons Debate, 24 May 2006). He is a member of the
Beveridge Group The Beveridge Group is a centre-left group within the Liberal Democrat party in the UK. It was set up in 2001 by MPs Alistair Carmichael, Paul Holmes, John Barrett and John Pugh to promote debate within the party regarding public service pro ...
. In 2008 he proposed that Park Home Site owners should be "fit and proper people", a proposal currently being consulted on by the Government.


Personal life

Younger-Ross moved to
Teignmouth Teignmouth ( ) is a seaside town, fishing port and civil parish in the English county of Devon. It is situated on the north bank of the estuary mouth of the River Teign, about 12 miles south of Exeter. The town had a population of 14,749 at the ...
,
Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...
in 1989, with his wife, Susan Younger, whom he married in 1982 in Oxford. He is a
Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
, attending a church in Teignmouth.


Expenses

On 16 May 2009, ''
The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...
'' released details of several of Younger-Ross's parliamentary expense claims. The disclosures were part of the newspaper's wider
disclosure of expenses of British Members of Parliament The United Kingdom parliamentary expenses scandal was a major political scandal that emerged in 2009, concerning expenses claims made by members of the British Parliament in both the House of Commons and the House of Lords over the previous year ...
. Younger-Ross was reported to have claimed more than £1200 for 5 mirrors to furnish his
London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
flat, on which the rent was £1566 per month. A further £1475 was claimed for a single
chest of drawers A chest of drawers, also called (especially in North American English) a dresser or a bureau, is a type of cabinet (a piece of furniture) that has multiple parallel, horizontal drawers generally stacked one above another. In American English a ...
. These claims were submitted and approved by the Fees Office despite the fact that it was in excess of the so-called "
John Lewis List The John Lewis List was the name given to the list of expenses that Members of Parliament (MPs) in the United Kingdom could claim before 2010, after which the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) was set up to administer MPs' busine ...
". It was not issued to MPs but stated that MPs should not spend more than £500 on chests of drawers or more than £300 on a mirror. The Telegraph interpreted the claims as excessive, stating that they were "in clear breach of guidelines that state members must not use public funds" for "antique or luxury" goods. When questioned on Sky TV, he apologised saying that perceptions of what was luxury depended on your background and income, "clearly we have got it wrong". On 21 March 2010, Younger-Ross was forced to apologise and pay £4,000 to Parliament after breaching commons rules over a payment he accepted relating to his second home. Younger-Ross had accepted £8,000 windfall money from the new landlord of his second home in Dolphin Square, London. In a letter to Sir Malcolm Rifkind, chairman of the Standards and Privileges Committee, Mr Younger-Ross said: "I wholly accept the report and its conclusions and unreservedly apologise." MPs had been told they could accept this payment by the fees office. Many MPs profited from using the allowance to assist them buying a home, the House of Commons considered this to be acceptable although they may profit by tens of thousands of pounds on the sale of the property. Subsequent to this, the Telegraph reported that a number of MPs had secretly requested refunds of their initially repaid expense claims after demands received from the House of Commons were lower than expected. Mr Younger-Ross received the fourth largest refund, an amount of £3,170.92, thereby effectively negating the entirety of his initial payment.


Hunting

Younger-Ross had a mixed voting record on hunting, rebelling against his party whips and voting against the fox hunting ban during the amendment stage of the bill and earlier abstaining on the key vote. He argued that although he disliked hunting, he would not vote for a ban which did not compensate those who had legitimately made a living from it. Two wrongs do not make a right he said.


Penal Reform

Younger-Ross is a member of the
Howard League for Penal Reform The Howard League for Penal Reform is a registered charity in the United Kingdom. It is the oldest penal reform organisation in the world, named after John Howard. It was founded as the Howard Association in 1866 and changed its name in 1921, ...
.


References


External links


Richard Younger-Ross MP
profile at the site of Liberal Democrats

* ttps://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/richard_younger-ross/teignbridge TheyWorkForYou.com - Richard Younger-Ross MP
The Public Whip - Richard Younger-Ross MP
voting record
BBC News - Richard Younger-Ross
profile 30 March 2006 {{DEFAULTSORT:Younger-Ross, Richard 1953 births Living people English Roman Catholics Liberal Democrats (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 2001–2005 UK MPs 2005–2010 Alumni of Oxford Brookes University People from Weybridge Liberal Democrats (UK) councillors Members of Devon County Council