Darren Jones facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Darren Jones
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Official portrait, 2024
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| Chief Secretary to the Treasury | |
| Assumed office 5 July 2024 |
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| Prime Minister | Keir Starmer |
| Preceded by | Laura Trott |
| Chair of the Business and Trade Select Committee | |
| In office 6 May 2020 – 4 September 2023 |
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| Preceded by | Rachel Reeves |
| Succeeded by | Liam Byrne |
| Member of Parliament for Bristol North West |
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| Assumed office 8 June 2017 |
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| Preceded by | Charlotte Leslie |
| Majority | 15,669 (32.3%) |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Darren Paul Jones
13 November 1986 Bristol, England |
| Political party | Labour |
| Spouse | Lucy Symons-Jones |
| Children | 3 |
| Alma mater | University of Plymouth University of the West of England University of Law |
| Signature |  |
Darren Paul Jones (born 13 November 1986) is a British politician. He has been a Member of Parliament (MP) for Bristol North West since 2017. He is a member of the Labour Party.
Since July 2024, he has served as the Chief Secretary to the Treasury. This role means he helps manage the government's money and spending. Before this, he was the Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury from September 2023 to July 2024. From 2020 to 2023, he also led the House of Commons Business and Trade Select Committee.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Darren Jones was born in Bristol, England, on 13 November 1986. He grew up in an area called Lawrence Weston. He went to Portway Community School in Shirehampton, which is a public school. He has shared stories about growing up in a family that didn't have much money.
He studied human bioscience at the University of Plymouth. While there, he was chosen to be the President of the Students' Union. After university, he worked for the National Health Service (NHS). He also served on the boards of the University of Plymouth and the Plymouth NHS Trust. He even wrote a weekly newspaper column for the Plymouth Herald.
Later, he studied law at the University of the West of England and the University of Law in Bristol. He then became a solicitor, which is a type of lawyer.
Career Journey
Legal Work
Darren Jones started his legal career at a firm called Womble Bond Dickinson LLP. After that, he worked for BT. At BT, he gave advice on important topics like data privacy, cyber-security, and consumer law.
In Bristol, he started a special program to help young people from his old school get into the legal profession. After the Brexit vote in 2016, he joined a group called UK Legal Futures. This group of lawyers advised politicians on legal questions related to Brexit.
Political Beginnings
Darren Jones first ran for Parliament in 2010 in the area of Torridge and West Devon. He was the Labour Party candidate but did not win. He later joined youth committees for the Co-operative Party and Unite the Union. He was also elected to Unite's Regional Political Committee in the South West of England.
In the 2015 general election, he ran in Bristol North West. He came in second place. After this election, he helped with Andy Burnham's campaign to become the leader of the Labour Party. He also led Marvin Rees's successful campaign to become the Mayor of Bristol.
In 2016, he supported the campaign for the UK to remain in the European Union during the EU membership referendum. He also led a group of young lawyers who campaigned to stay in the EU. Later that year, he went to the United States to work for the Clinton campaign during the US Presidential election.
Jones also led Labour Digital, which is a Labour Party think tank focused on technology.
Parliamentary Work
First Term (2017–2019)
In the 2017 United Kingdom general election, Darren Jones was elected as the MP for Bristol North West. He won by a good number of votes, taking the seat from the Conservative Party. In his very first speech in Parliament, he joked that he was the first person named Darren ever elected as an MP!
From 2017 to 2020, he was part of two important groups in Parliament: the cross-party Science and Technology Committee and the European Scrutiny Committee.
In 2019, he was asked by Tom Watson, who was then the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, to lead the Future Britain Group. This group was set up to help keep Labour Party members together.
Second Term (2019–2024)
Darren Jones was re-elected in the 2019 United Kingdom general election. He won with an even bigger majority of votes.
After Keir Starmer became the leader of the Labour Party in April 2020, Jones was appointed as a special assistant to the Shadow Justice Secretary and Shadow Attorney General. He served in this role until he was chosen to lead the House of Commons Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee.
As the leader of this committee, Jones became well-known. His committee hearings, where he questioned people, were watched millions of times online. He worked on important issues like payments for workers, miners' pensions, and the British Post Office scandal. He also supported workers' rights to join a trade union at Amazon.
In 2020, he helped create the UK's first citizens' assembly on net zero emissions. He also led parliamentary investigations into how to make heating, electricity, and industry cleaner.
Jones was also part of the National Security Strategy Joint Committee. He helped make sure the government was using its national security powers correctly. He also served on the Liaison Committee, which questions the Prime Minister. He had some notable discussions with then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
He started the Interparliamentary Forum on Emerging Technologies, a group of lawmakers from around the world interested in new technology rules. In 2021, he helped pass the Forensic Science Regulator Act 2021. This law gave the forensic science regulator legal powers to make sure forensic science companies work to high standards.
In 2022, Jones became a member of the UK-EU Parliamentary Partnership Assembly. In 2023, he joined the shadow cabinet as Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury. He was seen as a strong speaker for the Labour Party during the 2024 general election campaign.
Third Term (2024–Present)
In the 2024 United Kingdom general election, Darren Jones was re-elected again. He won with an even larger share of the votes and the biggest majority ever in Bristol North West.
Jones was then appointed Chief Secretary to the Treasury and attends Cabinet meetings. As the deputy to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, he is in charge of public spending. He also helps deliver the government's plan for national infrastructure and leads the digital transformation of public services. Since April 2025, he has also been responsible for the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority (NISTA).
In March 2025, Jones apologized for a comment he made about government spending. He had used the example of pocket money when talking about changes to payments for disabled people. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, said it was "not the right analogy."
On a TV show in June 2025, Jones spoke about people crossing the English Channel. He said that during one visit he made, he saw that most people in the boats were children, babies, and women. He later clarified that overall, most migrants crossing the Channel are men.
Political Views
Politico Europe has described Darren Jones as being on the more moderate side of the Labour Party. He has said that Tony Blair, a former Prime Minister, is one of his political heroes.
He is known for speaking a lot about technology policy in Parliament. He describes himself as a "techno-optimist," meaning he believes technology can solve many problems. He supported the UK staying in the European Union during the 2016 referendum. He also supports changing the voting system to a more proportional one.
Jones has said that ending UK arms sales to Israel would not stop the war in Gaza. In 2025, he stated that the era of globalization "ended" after Donald Trump introduced new tariffs.
In November 2024, Jones told people in his area that he would not support a new law about assisted dying.
Personal Life
Darren Jones is married to Lucy Symons-Jones. She is a consultant and entrepreneur who works on renewable energy. They have three daughters. Jones became a vegan in 2014, mainly because of concerns about carbon emissions and farming. Sometimes, he is vegetarian.
On 10 July 2024, Jones became a member of the Privy Council. This means he can use the title "The Right Honourable" for the rest of his life.
