Jo Swinson

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Jo Swinson MP
Jo Swinson
Member of Parliament
for East Dunbartonshire
Incumbent
Assumed office 
5 May 2005
Preceded by new constituency
Incumbent
Assumed office 
5 May 2005
Preceded by Sarah Teather
Born 5 February 1980 (1980-02-05) (age 28)
Nationality Scottish
Political party Liberal Democrat
Alma mater London School of Economics
Website http://www.joswinson.org.uk/

Jo Swinson (born 5 February 1980) is the Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament for East Dunbartonshire constituency, to the north of Glasgow in Scotland. From 4 July 2007 she has been the Liberal Democrats Shadow spokeswomen for Women and Equality, based in the Lib Dems' Department for Communities and Local Government. She was previously the Liberal Democrats' Shadow Scotland Secretary and has chaired the Liberal Democrats' Campaign for Gender Balance since 2004. As of 2008, she is the youngest MP in the House of Commons.

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[edit] Personal

Swinson was raised in East Dunbartonshire and was educated at Douglas Academy in Milngavie and the London School of Economics, where she studied Management gaining a BSc in 2000. After graduating with a first class degree, she moved to Yorkshire and worked for Ace Visual & Sound Systems in Thorne, South Yorkshire from August 2000, then as Marketing and PR Manager for radio station Viking FM from December 2000.

[edit] Election

In 2001, Swinson stood as a Liberal Democrat for the Hull East constituency in the UK General Election, gaining a 6% swing from John Prescott, deputy leader of the Labour Party. In 2003, she unsuccessfully contested the Strathkelvin and Bearsden seat in the Scottish Parliamentary election, coming 3rd with 14% of the vote.

Swinson won a seat in the British House of Commons at the 2005 general election, beating John Lyons of Labour by 4,061 votes to take East Dunbartonshire. She is currently the youngest MP in the House of Commons, (informally known as the "Baby of the House") replacing fellow Lib Dem MP Sarah Teather. She is the first ever Member of Parliament born in the 1980s.

[edit] Political views

She is vocal in her opposition to the Iraq War and the Labour government's proposals for national identity cards. Supports measures both by individuals and government to tackle climate change such as conserving energy in the home and the current Liberal Democrat policy of introducing green taxes while reducing income tax to offset the burden of this. She supports reducing the voting age to 16 as one way of engaging young people in politics. She believes more women should be involved in politics but that encouragement is better than coercion in achieving this; she is, for example, against positive discrimination to address this issue.

[edit] Political career to date

(bold = current position)

[edit] External links

Parliament of the United Kingdom
New constituency Member of Parliament for Dunbartonshire East
2005–present		 Incumbent
Preceded by
Sarah Teather		 Baby of the House
2005–present