Michael Shanks (politician)

Michael Shanks
MP
Official portrait, 2023
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Energy
Incumbent
Assumed office
9 July 2024
Prime MinisterKeir Starmer
Preceded byAndrew Bowie (Nuclear and Networks)
Member of Parliament
for Rutherglen
Rutherglen and Hamilton West (2023–2024)
Incumbent
Assumed office
5 October 2023
Preceded byMargaret Ferrier
Majority8,767 (20.6%)
2023–2024Scotland
Personal details
Born
Michael Graeme Shanks

1988 (age 35–36)
Ayrshire, Scotland
Political partyScottish Labour (until 2019; since 2020)
EducationUniversity of Glasgow

Michael Graeme Shanks (born 1988)[1][2] is a Scottish Labour Party politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Rutherglen, previously Rutherglen and Hamilton West, since 2023.[3] He has served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Energy since July 2024.[4]

Early life and career

Michael Shanks was born in 1988[2] in Ayrshire.[5] He has a degree in history and politics from the University of Glasgow, and worked for a charity before retraining as a teacher in his late 20s, taking a PGDE at Glasgow.[6] He was employed as a modern studies teacher at Park Mains High School in Erskine, Renfrewshire.[7] He has also been involved in community and charity initiatives for disabled people[8][9] and ran a scout group for disabled children.[10][11]

Political career

Shanks was an unsuccessful candidate in the 2012 Glasgow City Council election,[12] standing for Scottish Labour in the ward of Partick West and finishing fifth in the single transferable vote process.[13] Four councillors were elected for the ward, making Shanks the only Labour Party candidate in Glasgow not to be elected.[14][15]

At the 2016 Scottish Parliament election, Shanks contested Glasgow Kelvin. He came third with 21% of the vote behind the incumbent SNP MSP, Sandra White, and the Scottish Greens, candidate Patrick Harvie.[16][17][18]

Shanks contested Glasgow North West at the snap 2017 general election, coming second with 35.9% of the vote behind the incumbent SNP MP Carol Monaghan.[19][20][21]

Shanks resigned from the Labour Party on the day of the 2019 European Parliament election in the United Kingdom, citing Brexit and antisemitism in the party during Jeremy Corbyn's leadership, but rejoined when Keir Starmer became leader.[22][15]

Parliamentary career

Having moved to Rutherglen from western Glasgow a year earlier,[5] Shanks was selected to contest the Rutherglen and Hamilton West constituency in May 2023,[15] in anticipation that Margaret Ferrier, the incumbent MP who had been sanctioned for breaches of COVID-19 restrictions,[23] would lose her seat via a recall petition. Following her suspension from the House of Commons, Ferrier was unseated by a successful recall petition on 1 August.[24] In the subsequent by-election on 5 October, Shanks was elected to Parliament as MP for Rutherglen and Hamilton West with 58.6% of the vote and a majority of 9,446.[25][26][27][28]

Prior to his election to Parliament, Shanks "said that he wasn't 'against' rejoining the EU and insisted he has not changed his principles over Brexit but that now was not the right time for a debate on the issue".[29] During his by-election campaign Shanks said he would vote to abolish the two-child benefit cap.[30] He supported the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill but said that "it could be much, much better".[29]

Shanks sat as the Shadow Minister of State for Scotland in the Shadow Cabinet of Keir Starmer, junior to Shadow Secretary of State Ian Murray, the only other Scottish Labour MP at the time.[31] His promotion made him the MP who had served for the shortest length of time before being promoted to the Labour frontbench.

He is a member of Labour Friends of Israel[32] as well as Labour Friends of Palestine and the Middle East.[33] On 16 November 2023, a motion was tabled in Parliament calling for a ceasefire in the Israel–Hamas war, with Shanks abstaining.[34]

Due to the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, Shanks' constituency of Rutherglen and Hamilton West was abolished, and replaced with Rutherglen. At the 2024 general election, Shanks was elected to Parliament as MP for Rutherglen with 50.5% of the vote and a majority of 8,767.[35] [36] After the general election, Shanks was appointed as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, under Secretary of State Ed Miliband.[37]

Personal life

In January 2022, Shanks received news coverage for running along all of Glasgow's 6,143 streets.[38][39] He began running during the first COVID-19 lockdown in March 2020, having been motivated by an American athlete who had run every street in San Francisco in 30 days.[39] Shanks described it as an "adventure" as opposed to a fitness challenge and completed it on 5 January 2022, when he ran down the city centre's George Square, which he had saved for last.[40] Whilst running he gathered information about the area from people for a book he is planning on the social history of Glasgow inspired by Hugh MacDonald's 1854 book Rambles Round Glasgow,[40][41] and created an online journal of the project.[42]

References

  1. ^ Robertson, Adam (6 October 2023). "Who is Michael Shanks? Meet Labour's newest Scottish MP". The National. Retrieved 6 October 2023.
  2. ^ a b Shanks, Michael (22 January 2024). "Michael Shanks MP on X". twitter.com. Retrieved 23 January 2024. I was in fact born in 1988
  3. ^ Brooks, Libby; Carrell, Severin (6 October 2023). "'Seismic night in Scotland': Labour crushes SNP in Rutherglen and Hamilton West byelection". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 6 October 2023.
  4. ^ "Ministerial Appointments: July 2024". GOV.UK. Retrieved 17 July 2024.
  5. ^ a b Gordon, Tom (6 August 2023). "SNP accused of desperation over 'local' claim in Rutherglen by-election". The Herald. Retrieved 6 October 2023.
  6. ^ Meighan, Craig (26 September 2023). "Who is in the running to be Scotland's next MP?". STV News. Retrieved 6 October 2023.
  7. ^ Morrison, Hamish (16 June 2021). "Erskine teacher on a quest to run every street". The Renfrewshire Gazette. Retrieved 6 October 2023.
  8. ^ A Is for Autism – Let's Make Sure It's on the Agenda, Michael Shanks, Huffington Post, 1 April 2016 (updated 2 April 2017).
  9. ^ Board Members | Michael Shanks, David Coates, Epilepsy Scotland, 6 September 2021
  10. ^ Special Scouts pack help bring joy to the lives of disabled Scots boys, Joan McFadden, Daily Record, 19 November 2012
  11. ^ Paterson, Stewart (5 January 2022). "Meet Michael: the man who ran every single Glasgow street". Glasgow Times. Archived from the original on 1 August 2023. Retrieved 1 August 2023.
  12. ^ Shanks, Michael (3 February 2012). "After 31 years, you'd have thought they might have some policies…". Labour Hame. Retrieved 6 October 2023.
  13. ^ "Labour council chief quits amid indyref fallout". HeraldScotland. 2 October 2014. Retrieved 17 June 2021.
  14. ^ "Election Results 2012". glasgow.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 6 July 2012.
  15. ^ a b c Learmonth, Andrew (9 May 2023). "Labour pick activist who quit party to be by-election candidate". The Herald. Archived from the original on 28 July 2023. Retrieved 28 July 2023.
  16. ^ Glasgow Kelvin Scottish Parliament constituency, BBC News, 2016
  17. ^ "Kelvin Constituency Election Region Results". Glasgow City Council. Retrieved 28 February 2021.
  18. ^ "Glasgow Kelvin - Scottish Parliament constituency". BBC News. Retrieved 28 February 2021.
  19. ^ Glasgow North West parliamentary constituency – Election 2017, BBC News, 2017
  20. ^ "General Election 2017 - Glasgow candidates announced". 11 May 2017. Retrieved 15 July 2017.
  21. ^ "Commons Briefing Paper 7979. General Election 2017: results and analysis" (PDF) (Second ed.). House of Commons Library. 29 January 2019 [7 April 2018]. Archived (PDF) from the original on 12 November 2019.
  22. ^ Harpin, Lee (6 October 2023). "Labour Scots by-election winner quit party in protest at Corbyn antisemitism failure". Jewish News. Retrieved 6 October 2023.
  23. ^ "Margaret Ferrier suspended from Commons over Covid rule breach". BBC News. 6 June 2023. Retrieved 6 October 2023.
  24. ^ Mitchell, James (1 August 2023). "By-election to be held after COVID rule-breaker MP Margaret Ferrier loses seat". Sky News. Retrieved 6 October 2023.
  25. ^ Meighan, Craig (6 October 2023). "Scottish Labour wins key Rutherglen and Hamilton West by-election". STV News. Retrieved 6 October 2023.
  26. ^ "Rutherglen and Hamilton West By-election - Thursday 5 October 2023". South Lanarkshire Council. 12 September 2023. Archived from the original on 7 September 2023. Retrieved 13 September 2023.
  27. ^ Meighan, Craig (6 October 2023). "Scottish Labour wins key Rutherglen and Hamilton West by-election". STV News. Archived from the original on 22 October 2023. Retrieved 6 October 2023.
  28. ^ Brooks, Libby (6 October 2023). "'Seismic night in Scotland': Labour crushes SNP in Rutherglen and Hamilton West byelection". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 October 2023.
  29. ^ a b Robertson, Adam (6 October 2023). "Who is Michael Shanks? Meet Labour's newest Scottish MP". The National. Archived from the original on 12 October 2023.
  30. ^ Garton-Crosbie, Abbi (2 August 2023). "Michael Shanks blasted for claim he would vote against Keir Starmer". The National. Archived from the original on 12 October 2023.
  31. ^ "Shadow Cabinet".
  32. ^ "LFI Parliamentary Supporters". Labour Friends of Israel. 6 July 2017. Retrieved 11 February 2024.
  33. ^ "Labour Friends of Palestine and the Middle East Parliamentary Supporters". Labour Friends of Palestine & The Middle East. Retrieved 8 April 2024.
  34. ^ Voce, Antonio (16 November 2023). "How did your MP vote on the Gaza ceasefire motion?". The Guardian. Retrieved 13 January 2024.
  35. ^ "UK Parliamentary General Election - Declaration of Results Rutherglen Constituency" (PDF). South Lanarkshire Council. Retrieved 17 July 2024.
  36. ^ "Rutherglen results". BBC News. Retrieved 17 July 2024.
  37. ^ Pease, Victoria (9 July 2024). "Two Scottish MPs appointed as ministers in Labour government". STV News. Retrieved 10 July 2024.
  38. ^ Paterson, Stewart (10 May 2023). "Labour pick man who ran every Glasgow street for Margaret Ferrier seat". Glasgow Times. Archived from the original on 28 July 2023. Retrieved 28 July 2023.
  39. ^ a b Whyte, Ava (5 January 2022). "Scots teacher Michael Shanks completes journey to run all 6143 streets in Glasgow". The National. Archived from the original on 1 August 2023. Retrieved 1 August 2023.
  40. ^ a b Brocklehurst, Steven (6 January 2022). "The man who ran all of Glasgow's 6,000 streets". BBC News. Archived from the original on 1 August 2023. Retrieved 1 August 2023.
  41. ^ Bartlett, Polly (3 April 2021). "I'm running along every one of Glasgow's 6000 streets". STV News. Archived from the original on 22 March 2023. Retrieved 1 August 2023.
  42. ^ "Every Single Glasgow Street – A journal of running 6,000 streets by Michael Shanks". everyglasgowstreet.com. Retrieved 6 October 2023.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Michael Shanks (politician).
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament
for Rutherglen and Hamilton West
2023–2024 		Constituency abolished
New constituency Member of Parliament
for Rutherglen
2024–present 		Incumbent