Jacob Young (born 2 February 1993) is a former British Conservative Party politician and served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Levelling Up from 18 September 2023, until losing his seat in July 2024. He previously served as Assistant Government Whip between September 2022 and September 2023. He was elected as MP for

Redcar Redcar is a seaside town on the Yorkshire Coast in the Redcar and Cleveland unitary authority. It is in the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire, England, and is located east of Middlesbrough. The Teesside built-up area's Redcar subdiv ...

at the 2019 general election. He was the first Conservative MP to represent the constituency.

Early life and career

Jacob Young was born in

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ), colloquially known as Boro, is a port town in the Borough of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. Lying to the south of the River Tees, Middlesbrough forms part of the Teesside Built up area, built-up area and the Tees Va ...

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in Northern England.The Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority areas of City of York, York and North Yorkshire (district), North Yorkshire are in Yorkshire and t ...

as the son of Terrence Anthony Young and Elizabeth Anne Young. He grew up in a working-class family in Middlesbrough, and has six siblings. Young attended

Macmillan Academy Macmillan Academy is an academy in Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. The school was founded in 1989 as the Macmillan City Technology College, one of the first of 15 City Technology College In England, a City Technology College (CTC) i ...

, and then studied at Redcar & Cleveland College and the TTE Technical Institute. After this, he obtained a

Higher National Certificate A Higher National Certificate (HNC), part of the Higher Nationals suite of qualifications, is a higher education/ further education qualification in the United Kingdom. Overview In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, the HNC is a BTEC qualifica ...

in chemical engineering at

Teesside University Teesside University is a public university with its main campus in Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire in North East England. It was officially opened as ''Constantine Technical College'' in 1930, before becoming a polytechnic in 1969, and finally g ...

. Whilst at university, he joined the Conservative Party. He then trained as an

apprentice Apprenticeship is a system for training a potential new practitioners of a Tradesman, trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study. Apprenticeships may also enable practitioners to gain a license to practice in ...

technician and worked as a process operator for Chemoxy International Ltd. Young later became a lead technician for a petrochemicals company. Through his church, Young was involved in a

food bank A food bank or food pantry is a non-profit, charitable organization that distributes food to those who have difficulty purchasing enough to avoid hunger, usually through intermediaries like food pantries and soup kitchens. Some food banks distrib ...

in Middlesbrough and a centre of the charity

Christians Against Poverty Christians Against Poverty (CAP) is a Christian charitable company in the United Kingdom founded in Bradford, West Yorkshire by John Kirkby in 1996. It is a national organisation specialising in debt counselling for people in financial difficu ...

. He described the approach towards poverty of the latter as a politically formative experience, "Christians Against Poverty was more about teaching people how to budget using the money that they had and how to pay back some of their debt over an extended period of time. That attitude drew me to the Conservatives – the idea that if you work hard and you want to succeed that you can."

Political career

Young stood as the Conservative candidate in

at the 2015 general election, coming fourth with 16.2% of the vote behind the Labour Party candidate

Anna Turley Anna Catherine Turley (born 9 October 1978) is a British Labour and Co-operative politician serving as Member of Parliament (MP) for Redcar since 2024, having previously served from 2015 to 2019. She has served as Lord Commissioner of the Trea ...

, and the

Liberal Democrat Several political parties from around the world have been called the Liberal Democratic Party, Democratic Liberal Party or Liberal Democrats. These parties have usually followed liberalism as ideology, although they can vary widely from very progr ...

and

UKIP The UK Independence Party (UKIP, ) is a Eurosceptic, right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. The party reached its greatest level of success in the mid-2010s, when it gained two Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), member ...

candidates. He campaigned for

Brexit Brexit (, a portmanteau of "Britain" and "Exit") was the Withdrawal from the European Union, withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU). Brexit officially took place at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February ...

prior to the

2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum The 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum, commonly referred to as the EU referendum or the Brexit referendum, was a referendum that took place on 23 June 2016 in the United Kingdom (UK) and Gibraltar under the provisions o ...

. At the snap 2017 general election, Young stood in

, coming second with 26.7% of the vote behind the incumbent Labour MP Andy McDonald. In the same year, Young was elected as the councillor for

Coulby Newham Coulby Newham is an area in the Borough of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England, with a resident population of 10,700, measured at 8,967 (Coulby Newham Ward) at the 2011 Census. History Early Coulby Newham began as farmland and this is ref ...

ward on

Middlesbrough Council Middlesbrough Council, formerly Middlesbrough Borough Council, is the unitary authority covering the Borough of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. Following the 2023 local elections, Labour has held majority control of the council, which ...

. In February 2019, he announced that he would be standing down from his council seat as he no longer lived in the town, and had moved to

Saltburn-by-the-Sea Saltburn-by-the-Sea, commonly referred to as Saltburn, is a seaside town in the civil parish of Saltburn, Marske and New Marske, in the Redcar and Cleveland unitary authority, in North Yorkshire, England. It is south-east of Hartlepool and so ...

. In May 2019, he stood as a candidate for one of the three council seats for Saltburn ward on

Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council is the Local government in England, local authority for Redcar and Cleveland, a non-metropolitan district, local government district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in the ceremonial ...

, finishing fourth.

Parliamentary career

Young was selected as the Conservative

prospective parliamentary candidate In British politics, a prospective parliamentary candidate (PPC) is a candidate selected by political parties to contest under individual Westminster constituencies in advance of a general election. The term originally came into use because of ...

for

on 11 November that year. At the 2019 general election, Young was elected as MP for Redcar, winning with 46.1% of the vote and a majority of 3,527. He is the first Conservative to represent the constituency. In a profile by '' GQ'' in February 2021, he was described as "socially liberal" and a "

Thatcherite Thatcherism is a form of British conservative ideology named after Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party leader Margaret Thatcher that relates to not just her political platform and particular policies but also her personal character a ...

". On 6 June 2022, after a vote of no confidence in the leadership of

Boris Johnson Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (born 19 June 1964) is a British politician and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He wa ...

was called, Young announced that he would be supporting Johnson as he felt that he had "got the big calls right" on Brexit, the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

and the

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 ...

, and added that he believed Johnson "cares about

Teesside Teesside () is an urban area around the River Tees in North East England. Straddling the border between County Durham and North Yorkshire, it spans the boroughs of Borough of Middlesbrough, Middlesbrough, Borough of Stockton-on-Tees, Stockton ...

, I believe, more than any prime minister has in history." Young resigned as Parliamentary Private Secretary for the

Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) is a ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for housing, communities, and local government in England. It was established in May 200 ...

on 6 July 2022, as part of the

July 2022 United Kingdom government crisis In early July 2022, 62 of the United Kingdom's 179 List of government ministers of the United Kingdom, government ministers, parliamentary private secretaries, Prime Ministerial Trade Envoy, trade envoys, and Chairman of the Conservative Party, ...

. He endorsed

Rishi Sunak Rishi Sunak (born 12 May 1980) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 2022 to 2024. Following his defeat to Keir Starmer's La ...

in the 2022 Conservative Party leadership election. In September 2023, he replaced

Dehenna Davison Dehenna Sheridan Davison (; born 27 July 1993) is a British former Conservative Party politician and broadcaster. She served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Bishop Auckland from 2019 to 2024. She served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary o ...

as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Levelling Up.

Personal life

Young married his partner Jack Robinson-Young in a ceremony in Redcar on 8 April 2022. They resided in Saltburn. Young now lives in

Guisborough Guisborough ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the borough of Redcar and Cleveland, North Yorkshire, England. It lies north of the North York Moors National Park. Roseberry Topping, midway between the town and Great Ayton, is a landmark i ...

. He is a

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

. In an interview published in December 2024, it was reported that Young had joined infrastructure consultants, Agilia as Director of Corporate Affairs.

References

External links

Official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Young, Jacob 1993 births Living people Alumni of Teesside University UK MPs 2019–2024 Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies LGBTQ members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom Politicians from Middlesbrough Councillors in North East England Conservative Party (UK) councillors English gay politicians 21st-century English LGBTQ people