Jacqueline Kay Swinburne, Baroness Swinburne (née Jones; born 8 June 1967), is a British politician and life peer. She was a member of the European Parliament (MEP) for Wales between 2009 and 2019, representing the Conservative Party, and became a member of the House of Lords in 2023. She was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Housing and Communities from 1 March 2024 for Baroness Penn as a Minister on Leave.^[4]

Swinburne was born Jacqueline Kay Jones^[5] in Aberystwyth, Wales, on 8 June 1967.^[3] She was raised in West Wales and is a fluent Welsh speaker. Swinburne was educated at Llandysul Grammar School and went on to earn a BSc degree in biochemistry and microbiology in 1988 and a PhD in medical research in 1991 from King's College London, followed by an MBA in 1994 from the University of Surrey, before starting a career in international healthcare and investment banking.^[5][6] Swinburne received national media attention in 1999 when she resigned from Deutsche Bank after experiencing sexual discrimination.^[7]

She spent six years (29 May 2003 – 24 March 2009^{[citation needed]} as a Town Councillor for Ledbury Parish Council and was elected mayor in 2006^{[citation needed]}.

Later in 2006, she also stood to be a Conservative Councillor on Herefordshire County Council and was duly appointed, serving as Chair of the Health Scrutiny committee. During this time she also served as Deputy Chair of the North Herefordshire Conservatives Association (NHCA). She stepped down as a County Councillor in March 2010.

On 28 March 2008 it was announced that she was to head the Welsh Conservatives' list of candidates for the 2009 European Parliament election, effectively guaranteeing her a seat in the European Parliament.^[8][9] Her election in June 2009 was notable for being the first time the Conservative Party topped an election in Wales since 1918.

She is a member of the Welsh Conservatives and the Welsh Conservatives Party Board.^[10]

She was reselected by the Welsh Conservative Party as its lead candidate for the European election in 2014, following a meeting of the Welsh Regional Selection College in May 2013.^[11][12]

In the European Parliament, Swinburne sits in the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR Group), a Conservative Party led group created in 2009 to campaign for urgent reform of the European Union. She is Vice Chairman of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, and a member of the European Parliament's delegation to the United States of America. She was formerly a substitute for the EuroMed Parliamentary Assembly (DMED): the Union for the Mediterranean which promotes economic integration and democratic reform across 16 neighbours to the EU's south in North Africa and the Middle East and the European Parliament Delegation to Palestine. She also was the ECR Group's Co-ordinator on the Special Committee on the Financial, Economic and Social Crisis (CRIS). Her extensive meetings with lobbyists for the financial industry have been criticised.^[13]

On 2 June 2023, it was announced that Swinburne would be made a life peer on being appointed a baroness-in-waiting and a whip in the House of Lords, as part of the 2023 Special Honours.^[18] She was created Baroness Swinburne, of Llandysul in the County of Ceredigion, on 20 June,^[19] and was introduced to the House of Lords on 22 June.^[20]

As coordinator for the ECR group and UK spokesman on Economic and Monetary Affairs,^[21] she has successfully negotiated a number of dossiers concerning the UK's key priority on Europe of Financial Services as well as being part of the global reform agenda since the start of the financial crisis.^[22] These include EMIR and MiFID which focus on fulfilling the UK's G20 commitment to reform of the derivatives markets. She was also the committee's Rapporteur on a dossier concerning post trade settlement process;^[23] this was the first time in 12 years that a UK Conservative has been nominated by the committee to take a leading role on a financial services file.

During the political negotiations within the Parliament concerning the newly proposed Banking Union, she was the only non-Euro zone member of the committee present and successfully gained all political groups support for a requirement for all of the detailed rules involved in financial services to have a double majority of both Euro zone and non-Euro zone members in favour before it could pass into law.^[24] A key achievement in protecting the UK's place within the single market,^[25] and the way in which decisions will be taken going forwards as parts of the EU become more integrated than others.

A key political achievement was also successfully securing a legislative requirement for a Legal Entity Identifier for Financial Transactions which is now being processed in a facility in North Wales,^[26][27] thereby linking her work on financial services back to her constituency.

She has also prioritised working with the other 4 Welsh MEPs where possible, in particular concerning the use of electronic identification tags for sheep,^[28][29] where the Commission for the first time received a letter from all of the MEPs of one region collectively. As a result of this and a more concerted campaign by others, she has secured a more proportionate approach that recognises the difficulties that Welsh farmers may have otherwise experienced.^[30]

Since the Brexit referendum, Kay Swinburne has been appointed Vice Chairman of the Economic and Monetary Affairs committee in the European Parliament.