Siân Catherine James (born 24 June 1959) is a
Welsh Labour Party politician, who was Member of Parliament (MP) for
Swansea East from
2005
2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...
to
2015
2015 was designated by the United Nations as:
* International Year of Light
* International Year of Soil __TOC__
Events
January
* January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...
.
Early life
She spent most of her childhood in the Swansea Valley, where her parents ran a public house. She attended Cefn Saeson Comprehensive School on Afan Valley Road in
Cimla
Cimla is a village and suburb of the town of Neath in the county borough of Neath Port Talbot, Wales. It is set high up on a hill. It is pronounced Kim-la. The Welsh language spelling is Cymla, pronounced the same way. Its meaning is a place wit ...
,
Neath
Neath (; ) is a market town and Community (Wales), community situated in the Neath Port Talbot, Neath Port Talbot County Borough, Wales. The town had a population of 50,658 in 2011. The community of the parish of Neath had a population of 19,2 ...
. James married at age 16 and had two children by age 20.
Living as a young housewife, James said: "As long as my lace curtains were the cleanest, my children immaculately dressed, their hand-knitted clothes made with love, I was happy."
During the
1984 miners' strike, James helped feed over 1,000 families a week from nine different centres.
After the strike, James decided to take her
A-Levels
The A-level (Advanced Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education, as well as a school leaving qualification offered by the educational bodies in the United Kingdom and the educational ...
, before attending
Swansea University
Swansea University () is a public university, public research university located in Swansea, Wales, United Kingdom.
It was chartered as University College of Swansea in 1920, as the fourth college of the University of Wales. In 1996, it chang ...
.
In the 2014 film ''
Pride
Pride is a human Emotion, secondary emotion characterized by a sense of satisfaction with one's Identity (philosophy), identity, performance, or accomplishments. It is often considered the opposite of shame or of humility and, depending on conte ...
'',
Jessica Gunning
Jessica Faye Gunning (born 1 January 1986) is an English actress. She has appeared in the TV series '' White Heat'' (2012), '' What Remains'' (2013), ''Back'' (2017–2021), and '' The Outlaws'' (2021–2024). She received widespread critical a ...
portrays a young Siân James during the time of the miners' strike.
Career
After raising her children, she attended
Swansea University
Swansea University () is a public university, public research university located in Swansea, Wales, United Kingdom.
It was chartered as University College of Swansea in 1920, as the fourth college of the University of Wales. In 1996, it chang ...
as a mature student, studying for a degree in the
Welsh Language
Welsh ( or ) is a Celtic languages, Celtic language of the Brittonic languages, Brittonic subgroup that is native to the Welsh people. Welsh is spoken natively in Wales by about 18% of the population, by some in England, and in (the Welsh c ...
. She was heavily involved with the students' union and an enthusiastic member of the women's group.
After graduation, she worked for a series of organisations, with her final role before entering Parliament as Director of
Welsh Women's Aid.
Political career
As a young mother, James became involved in the family support networks surrounding the
1984 miners' strike, that were working to safeguard
South Wales
South Wales ( ) is a Regions of Wales, loosely defined region of Wales bordered by England to the east and mid Wales to the north. Generally considered to include the Historic counties of Wales, historic counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire ( ...
communities and the way of life. After the end of the strike, she became involved in women's rights campaigns.
In 2004 she resigned from the role in Welsh Women's Aid to stand as the
Labour Party candidate in Swansea East. She was elected in May 2005 with a majority of 11,249 votes, the first woman to represent Swansea East and one of only eight women MPs from Wales.
After being elected to Parliament, James was
Parliamentary Private Secretary to both
Gareth Thomas, the
Minister of State for Trade
The Minister of State for Trade Policy and Economic Security, formerly Minister of State for Trade Policy and Minister of State for Trade, is a mid-level role at the Department for Business and Trade in the Government of the United Kingdom. I ...
, and to
Paul Murphy, the
Welsh secretary
The secretary of state for Wales (), also referred to as the Welsh secretary, is a Secretary of State (United Kingdom), secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with responsibility for the Wales Office. The incumbent is a me ...
, until resigning in March 2009. She cited overwork as the cause of her resignation but it also allowed her to sign the
early day motion
In the Westminster parliamentary system, an early day motion (EDM) is a motion, expressed as a single sentence, tabled by a member of Parliament, which the Government (in charge of parliamentary business) has not yet scheduled for debate.
Hi ...
opposing the part
privatisation
Privatization (rendered privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation w ...
of the
Royal Mail
Royal Mail Group Limited, trading as Royal Mail, is a British postal service and courier company. It is owned by International Distribution Services. It operates the brands Royal Mail (letters and parcels) and Parcelforce Worldwide (parcels) ...
.
On 25 February 2014, James announced her intention to stand down at the
2015 general election, saying that she wanted to spend more time campaigning out of Parliament. On 26 September 2014, James was one of 25 Labour MPs who broke party discipline to vote against renewed air strikes in Iraq.
She was placed number 1 on the
South Wales West Labour list for the
2021 Senedd election
The 2021 Senedd election took place on Thursday 6 May 2021 to elect 60 members to the Senedd (Welsh Parliament; ). It was the sixth Devolution in the United Kingdom, devolved general election since the Senedd (formerly the National Assembly for ...
.
As Labour had taken all the constituency seats in the region, she was not elected.
References
External links
Siân James MPWelsh Labour Party profile
*
Meet the MP: Sian James ''
BBC News
BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...
'', 4 August 2005
{{DEFAULTSORT:James, Sian Catherine
1959 births
Living people
Welsh-speaking politicians
Politicians from Swansea
Alumni of Swansea University
Welsh Labour MPs
Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Swansea constituencies
Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Welsh constituencies
UK MPs 2005–2010
UK MPs 2010–2015
21st-century British women politicians