He contested Clwyd North West in 1992. He was the Parliamentary Private Secretary to Peter Hain from 2003 until his resignation in March 2007 in protest against the decision to replace Trident. In 2003 Ruane voted in favour of the Iraq War. He lost his seat to Conservative James Davies in the 2015 General Election. However, he successfully stood for re-election in the Vale of Clwyd constituency in the 2017 election. Ruane was opposed to Brexit prior to the 2016 referendum and supported a second referendum. From 2017 until the 2019 General Election, Ruane served as Labour's Shadow Wales Minister. In his role, he regularly campaigned for the need for greater transparency around the Government's proposed replacement of European Union funding post-Brexit, on the basis that Wales had historically been a net recipient of funding. As a Parliamentarian, Ruane tabled written parliamentary questions extensively and has regularly been one of the most prolific users of the procedure amongst Members of Parliament. He used written parliamentary questions to highlight the fall in the number of registered voters from 2001 onwards. In 2013 he worked with Lord Layard and the Oxford Mindfulness Centre to establish mindfulness practice in the UK Parliament. Since then 260 UK parliamentarians and 460 members of their staff have received mindfulness training. In his period out of office,2015-17, working with the Mindfulness Initiative, he developed links with politicians and mindfulness advocates in 39 legislatures around the world and has helped to establish mindfulness practice in 13 of those legislatures. In 2018 Chris re-established the All Party Parliamentary Group on Wellbeing Economics in conjunction with former Chief Secretary to the Treasury Lord Gus O’Donnell and Lord Layard and has been a consistent campaigner for embedding wellbeing considerations in public policy formulation and decision making. In 2019 he again lost his seat to Conservative James Davies in the General Election in December of that year.
Expenses
In October 2012, the Commons Speaker, John Bercow, blocked the release of data showing which MPs were renting their homes in London to other MPs for financial gain. However, a study of parliamentary records was published in the Daily Telegraph. The study showed that 27 MPS, including Chris Ruane receive rental income from their homes in London while simultaneously claiming rental income from the taxpayer to live at another residence. Ruane owns a flat in London which he bought through the use of parliamentary expenses. Ruane claimed £1,906 a month for his London flat. He also owns a flat about three minutes’ walk away. He said: "I have acted completely within the rules." Between January and June 2018, Ruane claimed £9,760. making him the lowest claiming of MPs in the North Wales region.
