Chris Ruane

Christopher Shaun Ruane (born 18 July 1958) is a Welsh Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Vale of Clwyd.[2]

Chris Ruane
Official Parliamentary portrait, June 2017
Shadow Minister for Wales
In office
3 July 2017 – 6 November 2019
LeaderJeremy Corbyn
Member of Parliament
for Vale of Clwyd
In office
8 June 2017 – 6 November 2019
Preceded byJames Davies
Succeeded byJames Davies
In office
1 May 1997 – 30 March 2015
Preceded byConstituency created
Succeeded byJames Davies
Personal details
Born (1958-07-18) 18 July 1958
Rhyl, Flintshire, Wales
NationalityBritish
Political partyLabour
Spouse(s)Gill Roberts[1]

Early life

Ruane attended Ysgol Mair Roman Catholic primary school in Rhyl. He then went to the Blessed Edward Jones Catholic High School (three years above Carol Vorderman) on Cefndy Road in Rhyl, then in Flintshire, later Clwyd and since 1996 in Denbighshire. At the University of Wales College, Aberystwyth, he gained a BSc in Economics in 1979. From the University of Liverpool he gained a PGCE in 1980. He was a town councillor from 1988 and the Chairman of West Clwyd NUT region.

He was a primary school teacher from 1982–97, and a deputy head from 1991–7.[3]

Parliamentary career

He contested Clwyd North West in 1992.

He was the Parliamentary Private Secretary to Peter Hain from 2003 until his resignation in March 2007 in protest against the decision to replace Trident.[4]

In 2003 Ruane voted in favour of the Iraq War.

He lost his seat to Conservative James Davies in the 2015 General Election. However, he successfully stood for re-election in the Vale of Clwyd constituency in the 2017 election.[5]

Ruane was opposed to Brexit prior to the 2016 referendum and supported a second referendum.[6] From 2017 until the 2019 General Election, Ruane served as Labour's Shadow Wales Minister. In his role, he regularly campaigned for the need for greater transparency around the Government's proposed replacement of European Union funding post-Brexit, on the basis that Wales had historically been a net recipient of funding.

As a Parliamentarian, Ruane tabled written parliamentary questions extensively and has regularly been one of the most prolific users of the procedure amongst Members of Parliament. He used written parliamentary questions to highlight the fall in the number of registered voters from 2001 onwards.

In 2013 he worked with Lord Layard and the Oxford Mindfulness Centre to establish mindfulness practice in the UK Parliament. Since then 260 UK parliamentarians and 460 members of their staff have received mindfulness training. In his period out of office, 2015-17, working with the Mindfulness Initiative (MI), he developed links with politicians and mindfulness advocates in 39 legislatures around the world and has helped to establish mindfulness practice in 13 of those legislatures.

In 2018 Chris re-established the All Party Parliamentary Group on Wellbeing Economics in conjunction with former Chief Secretary to the Treasury Lord Gus O’Donnell and Lord Layard and has been a consistent campaigner for embedding wellbeing considerations in public policy formulation and decision making.

In 2019 he again lost his seat to Conservative James Davies in the General Election in December of that year.

Expenses

In October 2012, the Commons Speaker, John Bercow, blocked the release of data showing which MPs were renting their homes in London to other MPs for financial gain. However, a study of parliamentary records was published in the Daily Telegraph.[7] The study showed that 27 MPS, including Chris Ruane[8] receive rental income from their homes in London while simultaneously claiming rental income from the taxpayer to live at another residence. Ruane owns a flat in London which he bought through the use of parliamentary expenses. Ruane claimed £1,906 a month for his London flat. He also owns a flat about three minutes’ walk away. He said: "I have acted completely within the rules."[9] Between January and June 2018, Ruane claimed £9,760.[10] making him the lowest claiming of MPs in the North Wales region.

Personal life

He has two children.

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References
  1. Commons, House of. "House of Commons - The Register of Members' Financial Interests - Part 2: Part 2".
  2. "Chris Ruane MP". UK Parliament.
  3. "Ruane, Christopher Shaun". Who's Who. ukwhoswho.com. 2018 (February 2018 online ed.). A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc. Retrieved 14 February 2018. (subscription or UK public library membership required)
  4. "BBC NEWS - UK - Wales - MP Ruane steps down over Trident".
  5. "General Election: Ex-Labour Clwyd MPs bid for Commons return".
  6. https://www.theneweuropean.co.uk/top-stories/peoples-vote-indicative-votes-1-5963537
  7. "Expenses scandal: 27 MPs let one home and claim for another".
  8. "News: The latest North Wales news from the Daily Post".
  9. Bryant, By Holly Watt, Claire Newell, Charles Young and Ben. "MPs use children to claim more expenses".
  10. https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/guto-bebb-wales-most-expensive-15394274
Parliament of the United Kingdom
New constituency Member of Parliament for Vale of Clwyd
1997–2015		 Succeeded by
James Davies
Preceded by
James Davies		 Member of Parliament for Vale of Clwyd
2017–present		 Succeeded by
James Davies
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