Siân Catherine James (born 24 June 1959) is a Welsh Labour Party politician, who was Member of Parliament (MP) for Swansea East from 2005 to 2015.
Early life
She spent most of her childhood in the Swansea Valley, where her parents ran a public house. She attended Cefn Saeson Comprehensive School on Afan Valley Road in Cimla, Neath. James married at age 16 and had two children by age 20. Living as a young housewife, James said: "As long as my lace curtains were the cleanest, my children immaculately dressed, their hand-knitted clothes made with love, I was happy."
During the 1984 miners' strike, James helped feed over 1,000 families a week from nine different centres.
On 25 February 2014, James announced her intention to stand down at the 2015 general election, saying that she wanted to spend more time campaigning out of Parliament. On 26 September 2014, James was one of 25 Labour MPs who broke party discipline to vote against renewed air strikes in Iraq.
She was placed number 1 on the South Wales West Labour list for the 2021 Senedd election. As Labour had taken all the constituency seats in the region, she was not elected.
References
External links
- Siân James MP Welsh Labour Party profile
- Meet the MP: Sian James, BBC News, 4 August 2005