Derek Vaughan was elected as Labour Party

Labour Party (UK)

The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...

 Member of the European Parliament

Member of the European Parliament

A Member of the European Parliament is a person who has been elected to the European Parliament. The name of MEPs differ in different languages, with terms such as europarliamentarian or eurodeputy being common in Romance language-speaking areas.When the European Parliament was first established,...

 for Wales

Wales (European Parliament constituency)

Wales is a constituency of the European Parliament. It currently elects 4 MEPs using the d'Hondt method of party-list proportional representation.- Boundaries :...

 in the 2009 European Parliament election

European Parliament election, 2009 (United Kingdom)

The European Parliament election was the United Kingdom's component of the 2009 European Parliament election, the voting for which was held on Thursday 4 June 2009, coinciding with the 2009 local elections in England. Most of the results of the election were announced on Sunday 7 June, after...

.

Biography

Vaughan was born in Aberfan

Aberfan

The Aberfan disaster was a catastrophic collapse of a colliery spoil tip that occurred in the Welsh village of Aberfan on Friday 21 October 1966, killing 116 children and 28 adults.-Mining debris:...

 and studied politics and history at Swansea University

Swansea University

Swansea University is a university located in Swansea, Wales, United Kingdom. Swansea University was chartered as University College of Swansea in 1920, as the fourth college of the University of Wales. In 1996, it changed its name to the University of Wales Swansea following structural changes...

. He has served as a full time trades union official, and is a member of the TGWU section of Unite

Unite the Union

Unite – the Union, known as Unite, is a British and Irish trade union, formed on 1 May 2007, by the merger of Amicus and the Transport and General Workers' Union...

. He was also leader of the Welsh Local Government Association

Welsh Local Government Association

The Welsh Local Government Association represents the interests of local authorities in Wales. It is an affiliated member of the Local Government Association of England and Wales....

 from 2005 to 2008 and deputy leader from 2008 to 2009.

He was elected to Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council

Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council

Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council is the local governing body for Neath Port Talbot. It is currently controlled by the Labour party, under the leadership of Councillor Alun Thomas, who succeeded Derek Vaughan when he became an MEP in May 2009....

in 1995. He became leader of the Labour group, and leader of the council, in 2004.