Jonathan was elected as the Member of Parliament for Stoke-on-Trent North, Kidsgrove and Talke on Thursday 12th December 2019.
Previously he worked as a secondary school teacher in Birmingham. Jonathan was a Head of Year and was responsible for the achievement, behaviour and safety of over 250 students. He oversaw whole school attendance for Years 7 to 11 and was also the school trade union representative for the NASUWT.
Since being elected he previously sat on the Education Select Committee, helping them to author the report on disadvantaged white pupils. He now sits on the Business and Trade Committee.
He has also seen three of his Private Members’ Bills, on the Desecration of War Memorials, Proper Maintenance of Land, and on the Extension of Auto-Enrollment of Pensions, adopted by the Government.
Jonathan has held Parliamentary Private Secretary roles to both the House of Lords and Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, and most recently served as Minister for School Standards in the Department for Education.
Since December 2019, Jonathan has been proud to deliver:
- £56 million for Stoke-on-Trent from the Levelling Up Fund, including over £3.5 million for Tunstall Library and Baths.
- A £17.6 million Kidsgrove Town Deal – unleashing up to 1,700 new jobs at Chatterley Valley West, helping refurbish and re-open Kidsgrove Sports Centre, funding the pump track at Newchapel Rec, 3G Astro at the Kings School, upgrades to Kidsgrove Railway Station, upgrades to Clough Hall Park, and much more.
- £31.7 million from the Bus Improvement Strategy to help Stoke-on-Trent ‘Bus Back Better’, which will see a day flat £3.50 fair introduced and improved weekend services.
- 500+ brand new jobs from the Home Office in Stoke-on-Trent, and a home office hub at Two Smithfield in Hanley.
- A law change which will increase fines on rogue and absent landlords, inspired by Price and Kensington Teapot works (Proper Maintenance of Land Bill).
- Education Investment Area status for Stoke-on-Trent.
- Funding to explore re-opening the Stoke-Leek line, connecting Stoke-on-Trent to the Staffordshire Moorlands region.
- A police touchdown space in the newly refurbished and re-opened Tunstall Town Hall, following my successful petition to residents.
- A law change which increases prison sentences for defacing a war memorial (Desecration of War Memorials Bill).
- £4 million to increase capacity at the Children’s A&E at the Royal Stoke Hospital.
- £15 million in acute and community mental health services for Stoke-on-Trent and North Staffordshire.
- A campaign for new and improved CCTV in Kidsgrove – three new static and three new deployable cameras, which have been rolled out across Kidsgrove Parish.
- The development of a ‘Silicon Stoke’ agenda to underpin the city’s transition into a hub for video games investment, development and specialist education.
