Relevance to the IRC
Ian Lucas has not been particularly active in areas of relevance to the IRC throughout his parliamentary career, having previously worked in the Home Office and as a Government Whip.
As MP for Wrexham he has celebrated the growth of retail in his constituency, praising retailers’ roles in turning the town centre into a “vibrant and strong cultural centre”. He has also spoken in Parliament in support of developing local transport infrastructure for the benefit of the retail sector.

Background
Ian Lucas’ new role within the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills is his first Ministerial appointment, having been elected to his Wrexham seat in 2001. He has previously served as Parliamentary Private Secretary to Home Office Minister Liam Byrne MP in 2007-08, and in October 2008 became an assistant Government whip.
Mr Lucas has previously been a member of several Select Committees, including the Environmental Audit Committee (2001-03), Procedure Committee (2001-02), Transport Committee (2003-05) and Public Accounts Committee (2007).
In general, Mr Lucas has been highly loyal to the Government, although his parliamentary career began with a rebellion, being one of nearly 120 Labour MPs who voted down the Government's attempt to remove his fellow Welsh MP Donald Anderson from the chairmanship of the Foreign Affairs Committee.
Born on Tyneside in 1960, grandson of a Durham miner, he was educated at Gateshead Comprehensive and Newcastle Royal Grammar School. He read law at New College, Oxford where he was a contemporary of his fellow Welsh MPs of the class of 2001, Chris Bryant and Kevin Brennan.

Mr Lucas has worked as a solicitor in Putney, Chester, Birkenhead and Wrexham, and represented Trevor Rees-Jones, the bodyguard who survived the crash that killed Diana, Princess of Wales.

Labour
Constituency: Wrexham
Majority: 6,819
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, with responsibility for retail.

He speaks some German, and is secretary of the all-party group on Germany. He is a member of the MSF union, the Fabian Society and the Society of Labour Lawyers. His hobbies are history, film, football, cricket and painting.