Gerald Jones | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait, 2020 | |
| Shadow Minister for Scotland | |
| Assumed office 5 September 2023 Serving with Michael Shanks | |
| Leader | Keir Starmer |
| Preceded by | Liz Twist |
| Shadow Minister for Wales | |
| In office 10 April 2020 – 5 September 2023 | |
| Leader | Keir Starmer |
| Preceded by | Chris Ruane |
| Succeeded by | Jessica Morden |
| In office 10 October 2016 – 3 July 2017 | |
| Leader | Jeremy Corbyn |
| Preceded by | Susan Elan Jones |
| Succeeded by | Chris Ruane |
| Shadow Minister for Veterans | |
| In office 3 July 2017 – 10 April 2020 | |
| Leader | Jeremy Corbyn |
| Preceded by | Rachael Maskell (2016) [1] |
| Succeeded by | Sharon Hodgson |
| Member of Parliament for Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney | |
| Assumed office 7 May 2015 | |
| Preceded by | Dai Havard |
| Majority | 10,606 (32.8%) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 21 August 1970 Phillipstown, Wales |
| Political party | Labour |
| Website | Official website |
Gerald Jones (born 21 August 1970) is a Welsh Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney since 2015. He has been Shadow Minister for Scotland since 2023 and previously served as a Shadow Wales Office minister.[2][3]
The industrial decline of the 1980s and the 1984–85 miners' strike led Jones, at the age of 14, to become active in the community struggle to support miners.[citation needed]
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 role in UK general elections and Welsh Assembly election campaigns across Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney, as an election agent.[citation needed]
Jones 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. Jones also served as the Anti Poverty and Homelessness Champion.[citation needed]
He is also member of the GMB union and the Co-operative Party.
He supported Owen Smith in the failed attempt to replace Jeremy Corbyn in the 2016 Labour leadership election.[4]
Jones was first elected as the Member of Parliament for Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney at the 2015 general election and was subsequently re-elected at the 2017 and 2019 elections.
Having served as a Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to the Shadow Wales and Defence teams, he was appointed by Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn as a Shadow Wales Minister in October 2016 and a Shadow Defence Minister in July 2017.[5][6][7]
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.[8]
On 7 June 2023, Jones defeated Beth Winter for his party's selection to become the Labour candidate for the new parliamentary seat of Merthyr Tydfil and Upper Cynon, which will be contested at the next UK general election.[9] The seat was ultimately renamed Merthyr Tydfil and Aberdare in the final recommendations published late in the month.[10]
In the 2023 British shadow cabinet reshuffle, he was appointed Shadow Minister for Scotland.[3]
Jones was born in 1970 in Phillipstown, New Tredegar, a small community in the Upper Rhymney Valley.
He is openly gay[11] and employs his partner, Tyrone Powell, as his Senior Parliamentary Assistant.[12]
