Marcus Jones (politician)

Marcus Jones was born in Nuneaton on 5 April 1974 and has lived in the town all his life. He grew up in the suburb of Whitestone and was educated at St Thomas More Catholic School and King Edward VI College. Before becoming and MP, he worked as a conveyancing manager at Tustain Jones & Co., solicitors in Coventry and Nuneaton.[2]

Jones stood unsuccessfully as the Conservative candidate in the Wem Brook ward of Nuneaton and Bedworth Council in 2002 and 2004, before being elected in the Whitestone ward in 2005. He was Conservative group leader from 2006–2009. In 2008 Marcus became the first Conservative Leader of Nuneaton and Bedworth, in the Council's 34-year history. He served as council leader and was also the Council's portfolio holder for Finance and Civic Affairs from 2006–2009, before standing down to concentrate on his parliamentary campaign. Jones stood down before the local elections in May 2010 and the Conservatives retained his seat, although they lost control of the Council.[3]

Marcus Jones was first elected to the House of Commons in 2010, as the Member of Parliament for Nuneaton with a majority of 2,069 votes.[4] His victory overturned a notional Labour majority of 3,850 and, as a result, he became the first Conservative MP for the town since 1992.

As an MP, Jones has campaigned for a PFI rebate, and is a member of the PFI Rebate campaign of more than 80 MPs, from all three major parties, who have been calling for savings on PFI.[5] Marcus claims that the PFI funding under which the University Hospital in Coventry was built and is now serviced has caused a substantial cost drag, and has put huge financial pressure on health services in Warwickshire.

Jones's voting record is and has been widely inline with the rest of the Conservative party's MP's, however, there are notable exceptions, for example, Jones has voted repeatedly against equal rights for LGBT+ people (namely his multiple votes against same-sex marriage rights). Jones has also voted multiple times to repeal the Human Rights Act (1998) and voted against largely retaining the EU "Charter of Fundamental Rights" as part of UK law following the UK's withdrawal from the European Union.[6]

Jones is Chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Town Centres and is also an Ambassador the Federation of Small Businesses' Keep Trade Local campaign[7]

In the general election in 2015 Nuneaton was Labour's target number 38,[8] but Jones won the seat for a second time.

As of May 2015, Marcus Jones became Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communities & Local Government, under the first Conservative Majority Government for 18 years.

In January 2016, in response to a proposed law that all rented houses should be fit for human habitation, he said: “New clause 52 would result in unnecessary regulation and cost to landlords which would deter further investment and push up rents for tenants. Of course we believe that all homes should be of a decent standard and all tenants should have a safe place to live regardless of tenure, but local authorities already have strong and effective powers to deal with poor quality and safe accommodation and we expect them to use them.” He voted against the proposed law, but was not one of the 72 Conservative MPs who did so whilst also being landlords themselves.[9]

In May 2016, it emerged that Jones was one of a number of Conservative MPs being investigated by police in the United Kingdom general election, 2015 party spending investigation, for allegedly spending more than the legal limit on constituency election campaign expenses.[10] However, in May 2017, the Crown Prosecution Service said that while there was evidence of inaccurate spending returns, it did not "meet the test" for further action.[11]

He was re-elected in the General Election 2017 and during the Government re-shuffle of January 2018, Jones left Government after being appointed Vice-Chair of the Conservative Party, with responsibility for Local Government.

He was again re-elected in the 2019 election, with an increased majority of over 13,000 votes.

In the House of Commons he sat on the Administration Committee and Backbench Business Committee and currently serves on the Speakers Committee on the Electoral Commission.[12]

Marcus Jones lives with his wife Suzanne and has two children, Oliver and Martha.[13]

• Nuneaton
• Nuneaton and Bedworth
• Conservative Party
• Nuneaton Constituency

• Marcus Jones' Website
• Profile at Parliament of the United Kingdom
• Contributions in Parliament at Hansard
• Voting record at Public Whip
• Record in Parliament at TheyWorkForYou