James Grundy (politician)

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James Nelson Grundy (born 8 December 1978) is a British Conservative politician who served as the Member of Parliament for Leigh from 2019 to 2024. He was born in Warrington, grew up on a family farm in Lowton, and still lives there. He attended Lowton St Mary’s Primary School and Lowton High School. Grundy also served as a councillor for the Lowton East ward on Wigan Council from 2008 to 2021.

Grundy won Leigh in the 2019 general election, taking the seat from Labour’s Jo Platt and becoming the first Conservative MP for Leigh since the seat’s creation. His campaign priorities included respecting Leigh’s 2016 vote to leave the EU, improving local transport (such as completing the Atherleigh Way bypass and reopening Golborne and Kenyon Junction stations), and investing in Leigh’s town centres. In 2020 he submitted bids to the Restoring Your Railway fund to reopen Kenyon Junction and Golborne Station.

During the COVID-19 pandemic he supported local people and businesses, including calls to reopen Leigh Market. In 2020 he launched the Shop Safe, Shop Local campaign to help high streets recover, proposing two hours of free parking on weekdays, more hand sanitising stations, and free face coverings for shoppers from local independent businesses. He also wrote regular columns for local papers.

In February 2020 a video from 2007 showing him publicly exposing himself at a Lowton event surfaced; he apologised for the incident. In May 2024 Grundy announced he would step down at the next general election.