Ian Lavery

Ian Lavery (born 6 January 1963) is a British left-wingLabour Party politician, who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Wansbeck since the 2010 general election. Lavery was the President of the National Union of Mineworkers.

Early life

Lavery has lived in Ashington all of his life. After leaving old East School school, Lavery started on a youth training scheme, before working in the construction industry. Following a recruitment campaign by the National Coal Board, he commenced work at Lynemouth Colliery in January 1980. In July 1980 Lavery started a mining craft apprenticeship. In 1981 he transferred to Ellington Colliery and went to college, receiving an HNC in Mining.

Miners' Strike 1984–85 and Presidency of the NUM

During the 1984–85 Miners' Strike Lavery was the only apprentice in the North East area who refused to go to work. He was arrested seven times during the strike.

In 1986, Lavery was elected onto the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) committee at Ellington Colliery as Compensation Secretary. Later, he was voted on to the Northumberland Executive Committee, and then on to the North East Area Executive Committee. He claims that because of his union activity, he was barred by management from completing his HND qualification: