James Murray
MP
Official portrait, 2019
Member of Parliament
for Ealing North
Assumed office
12 December 2019
Preceded byStephen Pound
Majority12,269 (24.7%)
Shadow portfolios
2020–presentFinancial Secretary
2020–2020Whip
Deputy Mayor of London
for Housing and Residential Development
In office
14 April 2016 – 16 October 2019
MayorSadiq Khan
Preceded byRick Blakeway
Succeeded byTom Copley
Member of Islington Council
for Barnsbury
In office
6 May 2006 – 26 May 2016
Succeeded byRowena Champion
Personal details
Born (1983-07-13) 13 July 1983
Hammersmith, London
Political partyLabour Co-op
Alma materWadham College, Oxford (BA)
Websitejamesmurray.org

James Stewart Murray (born 13 July 1983) is a British politician who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Ealing North since 2019. A member of the Labour and Co-operative parties, he was Deputy Mayor of London for Housing from 2016 to 2019.

Early life

Murray was born in Hammersmith to parents Geoffrey and Lynne Murray. His mother Lynne was a Labour councillor for Cleveland ward in Ealing from 2014 to 2018.[1] He grew up in West Ealing, attending an independent school, before studying PPE at Wadham College, Oxford.[2][3][4] Murray graduated with a BA First Class Honours degree in 2004.[5]

Political career

Murray served as a councillor in Islington from 2006 to 2016,[6] representing Barnsbury ward, centred on the area of the same name.[7] He was the borough's Executive Member for Housing and Development from 2010 to 2016.[5] In this role, Inside Housing reported that he "proved himself to be a tough negotiator who knows what he wants".[8]

He advised Sadiq Khan during his successful selection and election campaigns to become Mayor of London,[9] and was appointed by Khan as London's Deputy Mayor for Housing in 2016.[9]

As Deputy Mayor, Murray championed a new 'fast track' approach to affordable housing requirements for development in London.[10] The new approach encouraged developers to offer more affordable homes upfront in exchange for dropping complex viability negotiations.[11] It boosted affordable housing provision and won backing from many in property industry for speeding up the process.[12][13]

Murray also oversaw the Mayor's £4.8bn affordable homes investment programme. He developed the first-ever City Hall initiative dedicated to building council homes, Building Council Homes for Londoners,[9] which raised council homebuilding to its highest level in 34 years.[14]

He was elected as Member of Parliament for Ealing North in December 2019 and gave his maiden speech in January 2020.[15] He became a member of the Health and Social Care Committee in March 2020[16] and was appointed to the Opposition Whips' Office in April 2020.[17]

On 16 October 2020, he was appointed Shadow Financial Secretary to the Treasury, following the resignation of Dan Carden the previous day relating the Covert Human Intelligence Sources (Criminal Conduct) Bill.

As Shadow Financial Secretary to the Treasury, he has led for the Opposition on legislation including several finance bills, and bills affecting stamp duty and National Insurance Contributions.[18]

Personal life

Murray lives in West Ealing with his husband Tom Griffiths.[5] In the late 2000s, Murray was diagnosed with Myasthenia gravis. He received treatment at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, Queen Square, and is now symptom-free.[15][19]

References

  1. ↑ "CMIS > Councillors". ealing.cmis.uk.com. Archived from the original on 22 May 2021. Retrieved 19 December 2019.
  2. ↑ "At last, Labour wins a majority! It's got more women than men". The Times (London). 15 December 2019. p. 23.
  3. ↑ "Ealing's Local Web site". www.ealingtoday.co.uk. Retrieved 20 December 2019.
  4. ↑ "Election winners". www.wadham.ox.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 22 May 2021. Retrieved 24 January 2020.
  5. 1 2 3 "Murray, James Stewart, (born 13 July 1983), MP (Lab Co-op) Ealing North, since 2019". WHO'S WHO & WHO WAS WHO. 2020. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.u293073. ISBN 978-0-19-954088-4. Retrieved 1 May 2021.
  6. ↑ "Councillors". Islington Council. Archived from the original on 14 June 2006. Retrieved 25 May 2021.
  7. ↑ "Councillor details - Councillor James Murray". democracy.islington.gov.uk. 14 February 2020. Retrieved 14 February 2020.
  8. ↑ "Housing's head boy". Inside Housing. Retrieved 14 February 2020.
  9. 1 2 3 "James Murray (past staff)". London City Hall. 24 May 2016. Retrieved 14 February 2020.
  10. ↑ "GLA offers fast-track planning if developers hit 35% affordable homes". Construction News. 29 November 2016.
  11. ↑ "City Hall likely to scrap viability assessments above fixed affordable rate". Property Week. 10 November 2016.
  12. ↑ "Khan's 35% flat rate starts to deliver". EG. 6 July 2017.
  13. ↑ "State of play: London". Building. 6 October 2016.
  14. ↑ "Mayor boosts council homebuilding to highest level in 34 years". London City Hall. 10 May 2019. Retrieved 14 February 2020.
  15. 1 2 ""We must win the battle for the NHS" – James Murray's maiden speech". LabourList. 26 March 2020. Retrieved 15 April 2020.
  16. ↑ "Health and Social Care Committee membership agreed - Committees - UK Parliament". committees.parliament.uk. Retrieved 15 April 2020.
  17. ↑ "Labour makes Whips Office appointments". The Labour Party. Retrieved 15 April 2020.
  18. ↑ "Hansard - Contributions for James Murray". UK Parliament.
  19. ↑ "Hansard - NHS Workforce Debate". UK Parliament. 6 December 2022.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.