James Ian Mearns (born 21 April 1957) is a British Labour Party politician. He served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for

Gateshead Gateshead () is a town in the Gateshead Metropolitan Borough of Tyne and Wear, England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank. The town's attractions include the twenty metre tall Angel of the North sculpture on the town's southern outskirts, ...

from

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

. He was a member of and latterly Chair of the

Socialist Campaign Group The Socialist Campaign Group, also simply known as the Campaign Group, is a UK parliamentary caucus of the Labour Party (UK), Labour Party including Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Members of Parliament in the House of Commons of the Uni ...

parliamentary

caucus A caucus is a group or meeting of supporters or members of a specific political party or movement. The exact definition varies between different countries and political cultures. The term originated in the United States, where it can refer to ...

Early life

Born in the General Hospital

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne, or simply Newcastle ( , Received Pronunciation, RP: ), is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is England's northernmost metropolitan borough, located o ...

to a

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

veteran, Mearns was raised a Roman Catholic and was educated at St Mary's RC Primary School (

Forest Hall Forest Hall is a village in the borough of North Tyneside, Tyne and Wear, England. It is 4 miles from Newcastle upon Tyne. It borders Killingworth to the north, Holystone to the east and Benton to the south. The village was named after the Fo ...

) and having passed the 11 plus exam, at St Mary's RC Technical school (Newcastle). He grew up supporting

Newcastle United F.C. Newcastle United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. Since the formation of the club in 1881 ...

, and has been a fan of the club for over 50 years. He also helped run and Chaired the Gateshead FC Supporters club in the 1990s.

Political origins

In the 1980s Mearns was a member and Northern Regional Chair of the

Labour Party Young Socialists The Labour Party Young Socialists (LPYS) was the youth section of the Labour Party in Britain from 1965 until 1991. In the 1980s, it had around 600 branches, 2,000 delegates at its national conferences and published a monthly newspaper, ''Left' ...

, and a supporter of the

Militant Tendency The Militant tendency, or Militant, was a Trotskyist group in the British Labour Party, organised around the ''Militant'' newspaper, which launched in 1964. In 1975, there was widespread press coverage of a Labour Party report on the infiltrat ...

. He ceased being a supporter of the group before becoming a Gateshead Councillor in 1983, serving as a Councillor for the Saltwell ward until 2010. During this period he chaired Gateshead Council's Education Committee and in the Council Cabinet before becoming Deputy Leader of the Council in 2002 carrying on in that role until 2010. He was variously a representative of Gateshead Council on the AMA (Association of Metropolitan Authorities and the LGA (Local Government Association) He was an active supporter of and subsequently Chair of the Campaign for a North East Assembly.

Parliamentary career

Mearns was elected to Parliament in 2010 with a majority of 12,549, in a Gateshead seat created by boundary changes. Along with fellow North Eastern MPs elected in 2010,

Ian Lavery Ian Lavery (born 6 January 1963) is a British Labour Party (UK), Labour Party politician who has served as Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Blyth and Ashington (UK Parliament constituency), Blyth and Ashingto ...

and

Grahame Morris Grahame Mark Morris (born 13 March 1961) is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Easington since 2010. Morris briefly served on the Opposition frontbench of Jeremy Corbyn in 2016, and now remains ...

, Mearns is perceived to be on the left-wing of the Labour party. He was one of 16 signatories of an open letter to

Ed Miliband Edward Samuel Miliband (born 24 December 1969) is a British politician who has served as Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero since July 2024. He has been Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for D ...

in January 2015 calling on the party to commit to oppose further austerity, take rail franchises back into public ownership and strengthen collective bargaining arrangements. Mearns served on the

Education Select Committee The Education Select Committee is a select committee of the House of Commons in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The remit of the committee is to examine the expenditure, administration and policy of the Department for Education and any asso ...

continuously from 2010 until his retirement and was the lead Labour member on that committee for several years. He also joined the

Backbench Business Committee The Backbench Business Committee of the British House of Commons was created on 15 June 2010 through the adoption of a new standing order. It was created soon after 2010 general election, but had been proposed during the previous Parliament by the ...

in the 2010–2015 Parliament and chaired the Committee from June 2015 until the dissolution in May 2024. He was a member of the bill committee for

HS2 High Speed 2 (HS2) is a high-speed railway which has been under construction in England since 2019. The line's planned route is between Handsacre – in southern Staffordshire – and London, with a branch to Birmingham. HS2 is to be Britain ...

, which he has criticised for treating residents of the north east and other regions not served by the line as "lesser citizens". In March 2013, Mearns resigned as PPS to

Ivan Lewis Ivan Lewis (born 4 March 1967) is a British politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Bury South from 1997 to 2019, initially as a member of the Labour Party then as an independent from 2017. After serving in various ministeri ...

to defy the Labour whip and vote against the Jobseekers (Back to Work Schemes) Bill which retroactively changed DWP rules relating to

Workfare in the United Kingdom Workfare in the United Kingdom is a system of welfare spending, welfare regulations put into effect by UK governments at various times. Individuals subject to workfare must undertake work in return for their welfare benefit payments or risk los ...

. On 19 June 2015, he was elected as the Chairman of the Backbench Business Select Committee. On 24 February 2022, following the

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

, Mearns was one of 11 Labour MPs threatened with losing the party whip after they signed a statement by the

Stop the War Coalition The Stop the War Coalition (StWC), informally known simply as Stop the War, is a British group that campaigns against the United Kingdom's involvement in military conflicts. It was established on 21 September 2001 to campaign against the impe ...

which questioned the legitimacy of

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

and accused the military alliance of "eastward expansion". All 11 MPs subsequently removed their signatures. He was also named on a list of Parliamentarians sanctioned by the Russian government, which he regarded as a badge of honour. He was elected to chair the RMT Parliamentary Group from 2015 to 2024 and also the BFAWU Parliamentary Group from 2015 to 2024. He was also co Chair of the Socialist Campaign Group of Labour MPs until 2024. He helped establish and Chaired the All Party Parliamentary Groups (APPGs) For Housing in the North and another for Football Fans. He also Chaired APPGs for Rail in the North, for Foster Care workers and for Parental Involvement in children’s education. Mearns was honoured to receive the RMT’s Gold medal for services to the union at their conference in Hull in June 2024. In December 2023, Mearns informed his constituency party that he would step down at the

2024 general election This is a list of elections that were held in 2024. The National Democratic Institute also maintains a calendar of elections around the world. * 2024 United Nations Security Council election * 2024 national electoral calendar * 2024 local electo ...

, after 41 years of service as an elected representative.

References

External links

Ian Mearns MP
– official website * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mearns, Ian Living people 1957 births Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Politics of Gateshead Councillors in Tyne and Wear Militant tendency supporters UK MPs 2010–2015 UK MPs 2015–2017 UK MPs 2017–2019 UK MPs 2019–2024 Labour Friends of Palestine and the Middle East Socialist Campaign Group