Labour and Industrial Policy

Darren Jones

Labour MP at Bristol North West

Darren continued his education at the South Bristol Post-16 Centre at Ashton Gate school before reading human bioscience at Plymouth University, with a focus on immunology. He was elected President of Plymouth Students’ Union, and went on to work for the NHS.

Darren later trained as a solicitor, specialising in technology law. He worked in in Plymouth, Bristol and London in both private practice and as an in-house counsel, with a particular focus on the energy and telecommunications sectors. 

Darren first ran for Parliament in 2010 as a Labour candidate in the Conservative safe seat of Torridge and West Devon. He was selected in 2012 to contest the marginal seat of Bristol North West, moving the Labour Party from third to second place in the 2015 election. Darren was first elected to Parliament as the Member for Bristol North West in the 2017 election and was re-elected with an increased share of the vote in the 2019 election.

Dr Craig Berry

Head of Policy and Associate Professor in Economic Policy at UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose

His academic career has included roles at the University of Sheffield (Deputy Director of the Sheffield Political Economy Research Institute) and Manchester Metropolitan University (Head of the Future Economies Research Centre). He has also taught at the University of Manchester and University of Warwick. In 2017 he was a member of the Industrial Strategy Commission, and he regularly advises local and national policy-makers on economic policy issues.

Craig has published a large number of articles in peer-reviewed journals, and his books include Pensions Imperilled (Oxford University Press, 2021), The Political Economy of Industrial Strategy in the UK (Agenda, 2021), Developing England's North (Palgrave, 2018), Austerity Politics and UK Economic Policy (Palgrave, 2016), and Globalisation and Ideology in Britain (Manchester University Press, 2011).