Background
Jim Sheridan was born in Glasgow and attended Street Sixtus Primary School and Street Pius Secondary School on Cally Avenue in Drumchapel, now the home of Drumchapel High School.
Jim Sheridan was born in Glasgow and attended Street Sixtus Primary School and Street Pius Secondary School on Cally Avenue in Drumchapel, now the home of Drumchapel High School.
He was previously Member of Parliament for Renfrewshire West from 2001 to 2005. He also served on Renfrewshire Council from 1999 representing Erskine Central. Before entering politics he worked in shipyards from 1970 to 1978, then as a printer for the Paisley Daily Express from 1978 to 1984, then for Thales Optronics (formerly Barr and Stroud before 2001) on Linthouse Road in Glasgow, where he was a trade union convenor for the Transport and General Workers' Union from 1984 to 2000.
He was previously Member of Parliament for Renfrewshire West from the 2001 election until the constituency was abolished in 2005.
Sheridan was the promoter of the Bill which successfully led to the Gangmasters (Licensing) Acting 2004. Following the 2005 election, he was appointed as a Parliamentary Private Secretary in the Ministry of Defence.
He resigned this post on 9 August 2006 in protest at the Government"s policy on the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict, particularly the permitting of aircraft carrying United States. weapons for Israel to refuel in the United Kingdom. He was a strong supporter of Speaker of the House Michael Martin, at the time of the second-home expenses scandal, for instance stating that Mr Martin did not know about the expenses claims of MPs on Radio 4"s Today programme (18 May 2009). In November 2008, Sheridan tabled a Commons early day motion backing a Great Britain football team at the 2012 Olympics, saying football "should not be any different from other competing sports and our young talent should be allowed to show their skills on the world stage".
The football governing bodies of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are all opposed to a Great Britain team, fearing it would stop them competing as individual nations in future tournaments.
The Daily Telegraph reported in 2009 that the Labour Member of Parliament claimed a 42-inch plasma television costing £699.99, a leather bed and hundreds of pounds worth of furniture through his parliamentary allowances. He was one of 16 signatories of an open letter to Editor Miliband in January 2015 calling on the party to commit to oppose further austerity, take rail franchises back into public ownership and strengthen collective bargaining arrangements.
He defended his expenses as "authorised by the Fees Office and receipts were provided against all claims.".
53rd United Kingdom Parliament. 54th United Kingdom Parliament. 55th United Kingdom Parliament.