Gerald Jones

Gerald Jones is a British Labour Party politician. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney since the May 2015 general election.^[1]

Political career

The industrial decline of the 1980s and the 1984–85 Miner's strike led Gerald, at the age of 14, to become active in the community struggle to support the miners.

He joined the Labour Party in 1988 and has served in a range of roles including Chairperson of New Tredegar Branch Labour Party and the Merthyr Tydfil & Rhymney Constituency Labour Party. Between 2003 and 2015, he also played a key role in UK General Elections & Welsh Assembly Election Campaigns across Merthyr Tydfil & Rhymney as Election Agent.

Gerald was elected as a Labour Councillor to Caerphilly County Borough Council in 1995, representing his home community of New Tredegar. For 20 years, he represented his community and held an active calendar of advice surgeries and attended many community events, being accessible to local residents. He also served as Deputy Leader of the Council and between 2012 and 2015 also served as Cabinet Member for Housing where he drove the council's commitment to delivering the Welsh Housing Quality Standard programme. Gerald also served as the Anti Poverty and Homelessness Champion.

He has a lifelong passion for supporting community empowerment and has actively volunteered with a range of community groups in the New Tredegar area, playing a key role in driving the Phillipstown Community House project and the multi agency New Tredegar Regeneration Strategy, a project that saw around £25million invested in the local area.

He is also member of the GMB and the Co Op Party.

Gerald was elected as the Member of Parliament for Merthyr Tydfil & Rhymney in the 2015 General Election.

As of June 2015, he is one of 125 MPs who employ a member of their family; he employs his partner as a senior parliamentary assistant.^[2]

Personal life

Gerald was born in 1970 in Phillipstown, New Tredegar: a small community in the Upper Rhymney Valley.

Before becoming an MP spent 15 years working in the third sector, primarily in community development where he supported a large number of charities and community groups with development, funding applications and training needs.

He is openly gay.^[3]

References