Hanson was born in Liverpool, Lancashire, and is the son of Brian Hanson (deceased), a forklift truck driver, and Glenda Hanson, a personnel records clerk, and has a younger sister, Helen. He was educated at Roscoe Primary School in Liverpool, Grange Primary School and Verdin County Comprehensive School in Winsford, Cheshire, and the University of Hull, where he received a BA in 1978 and a CertEd in 1980, whilst in Hull he was the vice president of the university students' union and a member of Hull University Labour Club.