Ian Swales

Ian Swales is the son of Harry Swales and Elizabeth Adamson Doig. Through his Scottish mother he is a 1st cousin (1R) of Peter Doig, Labour MP for Dundee West 1963/1979. He was born in Leeds and grew up in Harrogate. His mother died when he was 8 years old. Educated at Woodlands junior school he became Head Boy and then won a County Council funded scholarship to Ashville College, Harrogate.[7] Following a chemical engineering degree at University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology, where he met his wife, Pat, a Durham miner's daughter, he joined Yorkshire Electricity and qualified as an accountant in 1977. He moved to Teesside in 1978 to join ICI and settled in Redcar. From 1983 to 1986 he worked for ICI in Brussels.

Swales joined the SDP when it was founded in 1981 and was a member of the first Cleveland County Committee for the SDP. He contested the 2005 general election in the Redcar Constituency and moved the Liberal Democrats from third to second place with a positive swing against both the Labour and Conservative parties.

In 2010, Swales achieved a 21.8% swing against Labour in winning the Redcar seat. He made his maiden speech in Parliament on 7 June 2010.[8]

During his time in Parliament, Swales was an active member of many All Party Parliamentary Groups including Chair of the APPG for the Chemical Industry [9] and Vice-Chair of the APPG for Steel and Energy Intensive Industries. In May 2014 Swales was appointed to the taskforce group for electrification of rail in the north by the Secretary of State for Transport, Patrick McLoughlin, MP.

Shortly after the 2010 election, Swales became an active member of the Public Accounts Committee, which sits twice a week and scrutinises all public expenditure. In June 2014 Swales resigned from the Committee citing frontbench commitments.

Swales sat on the Welfare Reform and Finance Bill Committees, and campaigned against tax avoidance.[10] After his prominent role on the Public Accounts Committee, Swales was promoted to Liberal Democrat Treasury Spokesman.

In January 2015, Swales was made Parliamentary Private Secretary to Vince Cable, MP, who at the time was Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills.

In July 2014, Swales announced that he was standing down as an MP at the 2015 general election, for "personal reasons".[6]

Following his retirement from Parliament Swales continued to participate in local industry issues. He advised the management of Redcar steel works and in August 2015 joined the Board, and became Chair, of the Northeast of England Process Industry Cluster (NEPIC), the body that represents companies in the chemical, pharmaceutical, polymer, renewable energy and materials, steel and biotechnology process industries in North-East England.[11] In 2016 he received an Honorary Fellowship from the Institute of Chemical Engineers (FIChemE) for his contributions to the chemical industry.

In his spare time Swales helps local organisations and campaigns on local issues. He was active in Redcar Swimming Club after the closure of the old pool campaigned for a new one. He was on the Committee of Coatham Memorial Hall for many years.[12]

Ian is a Humanist and in 2015 was made an Honorary life member of Humanists UK for his work in Parliament.

Ian and Pat have three children and seven grandchildren, three boys and four girls. Ian's interests include travel, reading, cooking, playing bridge, walking and genealogy.[12]

• Profile at Parliament of the United Kingdom
• Contributions in Parliament at Hansard
• Voting record at Public Whip
• Record in Parliament at TheyWorkForYou