Ruth George

Ruth Stephanie Nicole George (born 27 November 1969) is a British Labour Party politician, who became the Member of Parliament (MP) for High Peak in Derbyshire at the 2017 United Kingdom general election. She defeated the incumbent Conservative MP Andrew Bingham with a swing of 7%. In doing so, she became the constituency's first female MP.

Career
George trained as a tax accountant and, while in her twenties, helped to found an accountancy business in Chapel-en-le-Frith. She has lived in the High Peak area for over 25 years, is married with four children and lives in Whaley Bridge near the centre of the constituency.

She has been a school governor in Whaley Bridge, and is a committee member for the Whaley Bridge After School Club. She has been involved in local campaigns in the High Peak area; including setting up a pension scheme for the after-school club, and setting up a neighbourhood plan as Vice Chair of Chapel Vision.

Before becoming an MP, George worked at the Central Office of the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers (USDAW) in Manchester, where she was the parliamentary officer for eighteen years, campaigning on behalf of staff in retail, most notably campaigning on wages and maternity/paternity leave and setting up the ‘Freedom from Fear’ campaign which addresses violence and abuse of staff in shops. Her work as political/parliamentary officer for USDAW involved liaising with parliamentary MPs, and organising USDAW members to contact their MPs on relevant issues, including the campaign for Sunday trading, which was defeated by a majority of 31 votes, including 27 Conservative MPs and also campaigning against the Trade Union Act which was passed in 2016.