Siân James

Sian James at the Amsterdam Gay Pride , 2016

Siân James (* 24. June 1959 in Morriston , Glamorgan ) is a Welsh girl , who from 2005 to 2015 deputy of the Labor Party in the Parliament of the United Kingdom was.

Life

Siân James was born in Glamorgan. Her mother was a employed saleswoman, her father an active member of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM); she married when she was 16. As a mother of two, she was politicized during the British miners' strike in 1984/1985 . She distributed food packages to affected families during the year of the strike. During this phase she came into contact with the gay organization Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners , which supports the strike groups in Neath and Swansea Valley .

"I never saw any antagonism. What we thought was that this was a new group of people. We knew gay people existed - my dad worked with a miner who was gay - but nobody openly talked about it; it was considered very personal. There was an uncertainty about how these people would be different and whether we would have to modify our behavior. Would they expect us to talk about things, ask them questions? And they were bloody vegetarians! This fazed us far more. "

“I've never seen an antagonism . What we thought was this is a new group of people. We knew gays and lesbians existed - my father worked with a miner who was gay; but it was considered extremely private. There was an uncertainty about how these people could be different and whether we had to change our own behavior. Would they expect us to talk about things or ask questions of them? And they were fucking vegetarians - that upset us even more! "

- Siân James

In the aftermath of the strike, she dropped her A-level and studied Welsh language at Swansea University .

Political activity

In the British general election in 2005 , Siân James was elected to the Labor Party with 56.6  percent of the vote in the Swansea East constituency . She was the first woman to move into the House of Commons for Swansea East . It was from 2005 a member of the parliamentary committee for "Welsh Affairs" (Welsh Affairs), "Justice" (right) and "Constitutional Affairs" (Constitutional Affairs). In 2008 she became Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Minister of State for Trade Gareth Thomas and Minister for Wales Paul Murphy for one year .

In the 2010 General Election , James was confirmed in office with 51.5% of the vote.

From 2010 she was the secretary of the non-partisan group Children in Wales .

In February 2014, she announced that she would not run again in the 2015 UK general election.

"It has been an honor to serve the people of Swansea East but there are limitations to what you can do at Westminster. I feel it is time for me to pursue other opportunities and other campaign interests in Wales, and especially in social justice issues. "

“It has been an honor to serve the people of [constituency] Swansea East, but there are limits to what Westminster can do. I think it is time for me to pursue other opportunities and goals in Wales, especially when it comes to social justice . "

- Siân James

Voting behavior

Siân James regularly voted for equality for people of different sexes or origins ; she leaned cuts in the British welfare state system from, voted for a tax on the rich , such as the tax on bonus payments in the banking business . She rejected the tuition fee and voted for a reform of the House of Lords , such as the abolition of the barony by writ principle.

Extra-parliamentary activities

Siân James since 2004 in the City Council of the town of Neath and was in 2004 director of the charity Women's Aid Federation of England .

Movie

• 2014: The film Pride portrays James in her role as supporter of a striking village community during the British miners' strike in 1984/1985 .

Web links

• theyworkforyou.com/sian_james : Documentation of all Siân James voting behavior
• theyworkforyou.com : Siân James first speech to the House of Commons

• Pride in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Kate Kellaway: When miners and gay activists united: the real story of the film Pride , The Guardian - Website, Aug 31, 2014.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Kate Kellaway: When miners and gay activists united: the real story of the film Pride , The Guardian - Website, August 31, 2014. Retrieved August 1, 2015.
2. ↑ parliamentaryrecord.com ( Memento of the original from May 15, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. - Accessed August 1, 2015. 
3. ↑ ^{a b} Swansea East MP Sian James to stand down at next election , BBC website, February 25, 2014. Retrieved August 1, 2015.
4. ↑ theyworkforyou.com ( Memento of the original from December 6, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. - Portal for analyzing the voting behavior of British MPs. Retrieved August 1, 2015.