The industrial decline of the 1980s and the 1984–85 Miner's strike led Gerald, at the age of 14, to become active in the community struggle to support the miners. He joined the Labour Party in 1988 and has served in a range of roles including Chairperson of New Tredegar Branch Labour Party and the Merthyr Tydfil & RhymneyConstituency Labour Party. Between 2003 and 2015, he also played a key role in UK General Elections & Welsh AssemblyElection Campaigns across Merthyr Tydfil & Rhymney as Election Agent. Jones was elected as a Labour Councillor to Caerphilly County Borough Council in 1995, representing his home community of New Tredegar. For 20 years, he represented his community and held an active calendar of advice surgeries and attended many community events, being accessible to local residents. He also served as Deputy Leader of the Council and between 2012 and 2015 also served as Cabinet Member for Housing where he drove the council's commitment to delivering the programme. Gerald also served as the Anti Poverty and Homelessness Champion. He has a lifelong passion for supporting community empowerment and has actively volunteered with a range of community groups in the New Tredegar area, playing a key role in driving the and the multi agency , a project that saw around £25million invested in the local area. He is also member of the GMB and the Co Op Party. He supported Owen Smith in the failed attempt to replace Jeremy Corbyn in the 2016 Labour Party leadership election. Jones was first elected as the Member of Parliament for Merthyr Tydfil & Rhymney in the 2015 General Election and subsequently re-elected at the 2017 election. Having served as a Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Shadow Wales and Defence teams, he was appointed by Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn as a Shadow Wales Minister in October 2016 and a Shadow Defence Minister in July 2017. As of June 2015, he is one of 125 MPs who employ a member of their family; he employs his partner as a senior parliamentary assistant.
Personal life
Jones was born in 1970 in Phillipstown, New Tredegar: a small community in the Upper Rhymney Valley. Before becoming an MP spent 15 years working in the third sector, primarily in community development where he supported a large number of charities and community groups with development, funding applications and training needs. He is openly gay and employs his partner, Tyrone Powell as his Senior Parliamentary Assistant.
