Ian Lucas

For the rugby league footballer of the 1980s and '90s, and coach of the 1990s for Great Britain, Wigan, and Leigh, see Ian Lucas

Ian Colin Lucas (born 18 September 1960, Gateshead) has been the Labour Party Member of Parliament for Wrexham, Wales in the United Kingdom since 2001. He is currently Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Business and Regulatory Reform in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.

Background

He was born and brought up in a council house in Gateshead. He attended Greenwell Junior High School on Beacon Lough Road in Gateshead then Newcastle Royal Grammar School, and won a place at New College, Oxford University to study jurisprudence gaining a BA in 1982. He qualified from the College of Law in 1983 and gained a Solicitor's Admission in 1985.

Professional career

He became a solicitor practising in London from 1983-6, but moved to Wrexham the 1986, specialising in criminal and personal injury law for Percy Hughes and Roberts in Chester until 1987. He worked for Lees Moore and Price in Birkenhead until 1989. He then worked for Roberts Moore Nicholas Jones until 1992 in Wrexham. In 1992 he moved the short distance to Oswestry in Shropshire working for Dr Crawford, and formed his own practice, Crawford Lucas in 1997. The move was precipitated because of disagreements with his old firm when he had organised protests against cuts in legal aid. He was a partner in Stevens Lucas from 2000-1.

After the death of Diana, Princess of Wales in 1997, Ian Lucas represented Trevor Rees-Jones (Diana's bodyguard, and survivor of the crash) in a legal battle with Mohamed Al-Fayed.

Political career

In 1986 he joined the Labour Party, and became chairman of the Wrexham branch. He was on Gresford Community Council in Wrexham from 1987-91. He contested the traditionally conservative seat of North Shropshire in the 1997 general election, but was narrowly defeated. He has served as a school governor, and on a local hospital board.

He was later selected to stand for the UK Parliament in Wrexham, and won the seat in 2001.

In Parliament he has served as a member of the Environmental Audit Select Committee and the Transport Select Committee. He is currently Parliamentary Private Secretary to Bill Rammell MP, Minister of State for Lifelong Learning, Further and Higher Education. He has also taken an interest in sustainable energy, devolution of powers in Wales, and links with Germany.

He resigned on September 6 2006, due to the refusal made by Tony Blair to name a date for stepping down as Prime Minister. Fellow Welsh Labour MPs Wayne David and Mark Tami also resigned on the same day.

Lucas was promoted by Gordon Brown in the reshuffle of October 2008, to the role of assistant government whip. He then entered Government as a minister for the first time in the June 2009 reshuffle, becoming Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Business and Regulatory Reform in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.

External links

• Official site
• Guardian Unlimited Politics - Ask Aristotle: Ian Lucas MP
• TheyWorkForYou.com - Ian Lucas MP
• BBC Politics

News items

• BBC apologises in August 2008
• Welsh dragon on the Union flag in November 2007
• Richard Brunstrom in November 2006
• Leaving government in September 2006
• Digital TV in June 2006
• Death by negligent driving in January 2005
• School merger in May 2002
• Citizenship in February 2002

Offices Held