Dick Newby has served us very well as Lib Dem Leader in the Lords since September 2016. He has now stood down and there was an election to replace him between Yorkshire’s Kath Pinnock and Scotland’s Jeremy Purvis.
Yesterday it was announced that Jeremy Purvis would take the role.
He has been in the Lords for twelveyears and has been our foreign affairs spokesperson for the past four years. He steered through the Lib Dem legislation enshrining the 0.7% of GDP aid target in law back in 2015.
He also carries the dubious distinction as being one of the first people I ever approved as a Parliamentary candidate in early 2002. He subsequently served as an MSP for Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale in the Scottish Borders from 2003-2011.
Jeremy said:
It is an honour to receive the support of my fellow peers and be elected Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group. Under my leadership, we will be a voice for liberal campaigning on the important issues we and others care so much about. Currently our Group is leading on freedom of media and stopping foreign interference in UK newspapers; successfully passing regulations around whistleblowing; and making the case for paid carers’ leave in legislation.
I look forward to working with Ed Davey and all parts of the Party and to use the heft of our diverse and effective Liberal Democrat Group to help make the changes the country needs.
I sincerely thank Dick Newby for all his work in nine years as Leader, and the critical role he has played in our party’s most recent successes and I pay tribute to my fellow candidate, Kath Pinnock, who I know will continue to have a very important role to play in the group and the Party.
Dick Newby added:
It has been the privilege of my life to serve as Leader of the Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords. I am proud of the Group and the work we achieve week in week out. I congratulate Jeremy on his victory and I look forward to working with him as we build on the work of the Group and the wider Party.
Fellow Borders born peer Alison Suttie congratulated Jeremy on Facebook:
Delighted to congratulate Jeremy Purvis as the new Liberal Democrat leader in the House of Lords. Really pleased that there was a very positive contest – thanks to Kath Pinnock
* Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings. You can find her on Bluesky at caronmlindsay.bsky.social
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3 Comments
A great choice. Worked with Jeremy when I was on Scottish Borders Council.
Not only incredibly competent but a thoroughly nice person. Well done, Jeremy, so pleased.
Delighted to hear that Jeremy Purvis stood and was successful although I have every respect for Kath Pinnock too.
I have followed Jeremy on They Work For You for some years now because of his work on areas of huge concern to me, re refugees and overseas aid.
His speeches are so well researched, put together, and very importantly have a Liberal Democrat core, with our values imprinted on them.
It is clear from his speeches that he has actually been to many of the places that suffer incredibly, and from the responses after he speaks that he is respected in the House.
I had the pleasure of meeting him last year at a gathering in Newcastle when I took him some information from Christian Aid, and he is the person he sounds to be in his speeches!
It is very bad that what he, and other esteemed members of our group in the Lords, are rarely reported on by the party, never mind anyone else. I do hope that he can ensure that the party pays more attention to the good work in the Lords by our peers, and gets that out to our members and the media.
It might not always be headline material or what tops the bill in a Focus, although I often see things that are, but if members have more information about many of the actions in the Lords they can feed that out to the many interest groups that are around.
Very best wishes to him in his work.
An amazingly effective politician.Surved the Scottish Borders with distinction at Holyrood.Constituency border changes made the seat almost impossible to defend but a good second place achieved.Two close victories prior to that saw Jeremy raring to go until his dignified defeat.An outstanding person who challenged Ministers very effectively as well as his S N P competitor.