James Nelson Grundy (born 8 December 1978) is a British

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

politician who has served as

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

(MP) for

Leigh Leigh may refer to: Places In England Pronounced : * Leigh, Greater Manchester, Borough of Wigan ** Leigh (UK Parliament constituency) * Leigh-on-Sea, Essex Pronounced : * Leigh, Dorset * Leigh, Gloucestershire * Leigh, Kent * Leigh, Staf ...

since

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

Early life

Grundy was born in

Warrington Warrington () is a town and unparished area in the borough of the same name in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, on the banks of the River Mersey. It is east of Liverpool, and west of Manchester. The population in 2019 was estimat ...

, and raised on the family farm in

Lowton Lowton is a suburban village within the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, in Greater Manchester, England. It is around from Leigh, south of Wigan and west of Manchester city centre. The settlement lies across the A580 East Lancashire Road. ...

, where he still resides. Grundy was also educated locally, having attended both Lowton St Mary's Primary School and Lowton High School.

Political career

Grundy was

elected Elected may refer to: * "Elected" (song), by Alice Cooper, 1973 * ''Elected'' (EP), by Ayreon, 2008 *The Elected, an American indie rock band See also *Election An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population ...

to represent the Lowton East ward on

Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council The Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council is the local authority for the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan in the United Kingdom. It consists of 75 Councillors with one-third being elected every three years in four. The borough is separated into 25 wa ...

as a councillor in the 2008 local elections. He was elected to

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

at the 2019 general election, taking the seat from

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

Jo Platt Joanne Marie Platt (born 15 June 1973) is a British Labour and Co-operative politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Leigh from 2017 to 2019. She served on the opposition front bench as a Shadow Cabinet Office Minister from 2 ...

. This made Grundy the first ever Conservative MP to represent the Leigh constituency since its creation. Grundy's general election campaign pledges included respecting Leigh's vote to leave the EU in 2016; fighting for vital local transport infrastructure, such as the completion of the Atherleigh Way Bypass, and the re-opening of

Golborne Golborne (pronounced or ) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, in Greater Manchester, England. It lies south-southeast of Wigan, northeast of Warrington and to the west of the city of Manchester. Combined with the village of Lowt ...

and Kenyon Junction stations; and securing investment for Leigh's town centres. In 2020, Grundy put forward two bids to the Government's Restoring Your Railway Ideas Fund, progressing his pledge to get Kenyon Junction and Golborne Station reopened, following their closure after the

Beeching Report Beeching is an English surname. Either a derivative of the old English ''bece'', ''bæce'' "stream", hence "dweller by the stream" or of the old English ''bece'' "beech-tree" hence "dweller by the beech tree".''Oxford Dictionary of English Surnames' ...

. The outcome of these bids was due to be announced in autumn 2020. During the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

, Grundy was actively involved in supporting local people and local businesses. He supported local market traders' calls to open food stalls at Leigh Market as soon as the Government lifted restrictions. In February 2020, a video recording obtained by

LBC LBC (originally the London Broadcasting Company) is a British phone-in and talk radio station owned and operated by Global and based in its headquarters in London. It was the UK's first licensed commercial radio station, and began to broadca ...

showed Grundy publicly exposing his genitals in front of a woman at an event in the Rams Head Inn, Lowton, in 2007. Since the event, Grundy has apologised for the incident and the distress he caused. In the summer of 2020, Grundy launched his "Shop Safe, Shop Local" campaign, which encouraged local people to return to their local high street following the Coronavirus pandemic. The petition gained hundreds of signatures, and encouraged

Wigan Council The Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council is the local authority for the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan in the United Kingdom. It consists of 75 Councillors with one-third being elected every three years in four. The borough is separated into 25 war ...

to deliver two hours' free parking on weekdays in Leigh's town centres, increased hand sanitization stations on the high street, and free face coverings for shoppers provided to local independent businesses. As MP for Leigh, Grundy writes regular columns for both the '' Wigan Observer'' and ''Leigh Journal'', to update constituents of local issues.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Grundy, James Living people Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Leigh UK MPs 2019–present People from Leigh, Greater Manchester 1978 births