Jo Gideon is the MP for Stoke-on-Trent Central, having been elected at the 2019 General Election on a pledge to ‘level-up’ historically underfunded regions. Jo served as Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Secretary of State and Ministers at the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy until July 2021. She currently sits on several All-Party-Parliamentary-Groups, including chairing the APPG on Social Enterprise and the APPG on Youth Affairs.
Jo has a broad business background herself. Before entering politics, she spent ten years as an importer and wholesaler of handmade papers supplying major high street and independent retailers; as well as setting up and running award-winning social enterprises, working with businesses for university innovation and enterprise centres and mentoring business leaders in peer support networks.