Darren Jones

Darren Jones  link Twitter (Solicitor, politician)
Born	Darren Paul Jones 13 November 1986 Bristol, England
Alma mater	University of Plymouth, University of the West of England
Children	3
Spouse	Lucy Symons-Jones
UK MP who voted YES to vaccine passports in 2021

Darren Jones is a British Labour Party politician who was Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister and Minister for Intergovernmental Relations from September 2025 to July 2026. He was elected Member of Parliament (MP) for Bristol North West in 2017.

Jones previously chaired the House of Commons Business and Trade Select Committee from 2020 to 2023 and served as Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury from September 2023 to July 2024. Following the UK/General election/2024, he was appointed Chief Secretary to the Treasury by PM Keir Starmer.

BEIS Committee Inquiry

As Chair of the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Select Committee, Jones launched a standing inquiry on the UK’s ‘Net Zero’ target and the UN Climate Summits. The BEIS Committee considered a number of issues including:

• Progress in delivering the UK’s 2050 net zero target;
• Progress in cutting emissions to meet the UK’s five-yearly Carbon Budgets;
• The role of BEIS in leading climate change mitigation policy across Government;
• The potential role of business and industry in the net zero agenda;
• Preparations for the 2021 Climate Summit in Glasgow, and the UK’s performance as Summit host;
• The ongoing role of the UK in international climate talks and initiatives to tackle climate change.

Background

On 27 June 2019 the UK’s ‘net zero’ target came into force, setting a new goal to reduce the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions by at least 100% (compared to 1990 levels) by 2050. The Net Zero target replaces the UK’s previous goal to reduce UK emissions by 80% by 2050, established by the Climate Change Act 2008.

The net zero target aligns UK legislation with the ambitions of the Paris Agreement, as agreed by the world’s nations at the 2015 UN Climate Summit (COP21). The Paris Agreement set an aim to limit global temperature rise to "well below 2°C" above pre-industrial levels and to "pursue efforts to limit the increase to 1.5°C".

In September 2019 the UK was awarded the Presidency of the next UN Climate Summit (COP26), in partnership with Italy. The Summit took place in Glasgow from 1 to 12 November 2021.

Calls for evidence

The Committee was working with the Parliamentary Office for Science and Technology (POST) on a survey of priorities for COP26, the results of which fed into this inquiry. As part of this exercise POST also created a database of COP26 experts.

Call for action

On 5 March 2021, BEIS Committee published a separate report calling on Ministers to be clearer about the goals of the climate conference and its Chair Darren Jones called for more action before COP26. Jones said:

“The budget was clearly not good enough in terms of reaching net zero. There is a gap between what the government says and what it is doing on green issues. We need to get our own house in order before COP26.”