Jacob Young
MP
Official portrait, 2019
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Levelling Up
Assumed office
18 September 2023
Prime MinisterRishi Sunak
Preceded byDehenna Davison
Assistant Government Whip
In office
20 September 2022 – 18 September 2023
Prime MinisterLiz Truss
Rishi Sunak
Succeeded byGagan Mohindra
Member of Parliament
for Redcar
Assumed office
12 December 2019
Preceded byAnna Turley
Majority3,527 (8.6%)
Personal details
Born (1993-02-02) 2 February 1993
Middlesbrough, England
Political partyConservative
SpouseJack Robinson-Young
Alma materTeesside University

Jacob Young (born 2 February 1993) is a British Conservative Party politician serving as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Levelling Up since 18 September 2023. He previously served as Assistant Government Whip between September 2022 and September 2023.[1][2] He was elected as the member of Parliament (MP) for Redcar at the 2019 general election.[3] He is the first Conservative MP to represent the constituency.

Early life and career

Young was born in Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire as the son of Terrence Anthony Young and Elizabeth Anne Young. He grew up in a working-class family in Middlesbrough, and has six siblings.[4][5] Young attended Macmillan Academy, and then studied at Redcar & Cleveland College and the TTE Technical Institute.[5][6] After this, he obtained a Higher National Certificate in chemical engineering at Teesside University.[4][7] Whilst at university, he joined the Conservative Party.[8]

He then trained as an apprentice technician and worked as a process operator for Chemoxy International Ltd.[8] Young later became a lead technician for a petrochemicals company.[6]

Through his church, Young was involved in a food bank in Middlesbrough and a centre of the charity Christians Against Poverty. He described the approach towards poverty of the latter as a politically formative experience, "Christians Against Poverty was more about teaching people how to budget using the money that they had and how to pay back some of their debt over an extended period of time. That attitude drew me to the Conservatives – the idea that if you work hard and you want to succeed that you can."[9]

Political career

Young stood as the Conservative candidate in the Redcar constituency at the 2015 general election, but finished with 16.2%, in fourth place out of six behind the Labour Party, Liberal Democrat, and UKIP candidates.[10] He campaigned for Brexit prior to the 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum.[6] At the 2017 general election, Young contested Middlesbrough, a safe seat for the Labour Party, and finished second to their incumbent MP, Andy McDonald, with 26.7% of the vote.[11] In the same year, Young was elected as the councillor for Coulby Newham ward on Middlesbrough Council. He was the first Conservative councillor since the formation of the council as a unitary authority in 1996.[12] In February 2019, he announced that he would be standing down from his council seat as he no longer lived in the town, and had moved to Saltburn-by-the-Sea.[13] In May 2019, he stood as a candidate for one of the three council seats for Saltburn ward on Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council. He finished a close fourth.[14]

Young was selected as the Conservative candidate for Redcar at the 2019 general election on 11 November that year.[15] He went on to be elected with a majority of 3,527 (8.7%), on a swing of 15.4% from Labour to the Conservatives. He is the first Conservative to represent the constituency.[4][16] In a profile by GQ in February 2021, he was described as "socially liberal" and a "Thatcherite".[9]

On 6 June 2022, after a vote of no confidence in the leadership of Boris Johnson was called, Young announced that he would be supporting Johnson as he felt that he had "got the big calls right" on Brexit, the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine, and added that he believed Johnson "cares about Teesside, I believe, more than any prime minister has in history."[17] Young resigned as Parliamentary Private Secretary for the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities on 6 July 2022, as part of the July 2022 United Kingdom government crisis.[18] He endorsed Rishi Sunak in the 2022 Conservative Party leadership election.[19]

In September 2023, he replaced Dehenna Davison as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Levelling Up.[20]

Personal life

Young married his partner Jack Robinson-Young[21] in a ceremony in Redcar on 8 April 2022. They currently reside in Saltburn.[22] He is a Christian.[9]

References

  1. ↑ "Ministerial Appointments: September 2022". GOV.UK. Retrieved 21 September 2022.
  2. ↑ "Ministerial Appointments commencing: 25 October 2022". GOV.UK. Retrieved 28 October 2022.
  3. ↑ "Young, Jacob, (born 2 Feb. 1993), MP (C) Redcar, since 2019". WHO'S WHO & WHO WAS WHO. 2020. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.u293986. ISBN 978-0-19-954088-4. Retrieved 29 April 2021.
  4. 1 2 3 Tucker, Grant; Urwin, Rosamund (15 December 2019). "Meet Boris's Babies — they're young, fun and working class". The Sunday Times. Retrieved 15 December 2019.
  5. 1 2 Parsons, Rob (23 December 2019). "New Tory MP for Redcar, Jacob Young, to work in old factory job on Christmas Day because he 'couldn't drop the lads in it'". Yorkshire Post. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
  6. 1 2 3 McNeal, Ian (13 December 2019). "Who is Jacob Young? The Brexit-loving chemical worker who beat Labour in their backyard". Teesside Live. Retrieved 14 December 2019.
  7. ↑ Young, Jacob (26 November 2014). "'I'm proud of Middlesbrough and excited for the future of our great town'". Teesside Live. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
  8. 1 2 Eaves, Krysta (6 April 2013). "Teesside chemical industry apprentice tackles PM over apprenticeships funding". Teesside Live. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
  9. 1 2 3 Chesterton, George (26 February 2021). "Jacob Young: 'We're Conservatives. We don't respond to culture just because it's fashionable'". GQ. Retrieved 19 March 2021.
  10. ↑ "Redcar (Constituency) 2015 Results". UK Parliament. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
  11. ↑ "Election 2017: Middlesbrough". BBC. 17 May 2017. Retrieved 28 July 2023.
  12. ↑ Johnson, Ian (14 April 2017). "Labour loses Middlesbrough Council seat to Tories as MP tweets: 'It is time for Corbyn to go'". Teesside Live. Retrieved 5 January 2020.
  13. ↑ Cain, James (12 February 2019). "The reason why Tory councillor who secured historic poll win is standing down after just two years". Teessidelive. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
  14. ↑ "Redcar and Cleveland Council election results 2019 in full as Labour loses seats". Teesside Live. 4 May 2019. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
  15. ↑ Scott, Jim (11 November 2019). "Conservative name Jacob Young as Redcar candidate". The Northern Echo. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
  16. ↑ "Redcar". BBC News. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
  17. ↑ Larman, Connor (6 June 2022). "Boris Johnson vote of no confidence: Simon Clarke and Jacob Young defend Prime Minister". The Northern Echo. Retrieved 6 June 2022.
  18. ↑ @JacobYoungMP (6 July 2022). "I have agonised throughout today – I have supported the Prime Minister through thick and thin. It's because of my loyalty to him, that I urge him to now step aside and allow the country to move forward" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  19. ↑ @JacobYoungMP (8 July 2022). "Time after time, Rishi has backed Teesside. I'm supporting @RishiSunak" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  20. ↑ Knott, Jonathan (18 September 2023). "New levelling up minister appointed". Local Government Chronicle (LGC). Retrieved 18 September 2023.
  21. ↑ "North East MP ties the knot and celebrates with lemon top on the beach". The Northern Echo. 11 April 2022. Retrieved 31 July 2023.
  22. ↑ McNeal, Ian (13 December 2019). "Who's Jacob Young? The Brexit-loving chemical worker who beat Labour". Teesside Live. Retrieved 15 November 2023.
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