Stephen Lloyd

Stephen Lloyd
Member of Parliament for Eastbourne
In office 6 May 2010 – 30 March 2015
Preceded by	Nigel Waterson
Succeeded by	Caroline Ansell
Personal details
Born	(1957-06-15) 15 June 1957 Mombasa, Kenya Colony
Nationality	British
Political party	Liberal Democrats
Domestic partner	Cherine Maskill (2003-present)[1]
Alma mater	St. George's College, Weybridge
Occupation	Business Development Director
Website	stephenlloyd.org.uk

Stephen Anthony Christopher Lloyd^[2] (born 15 June 1957) is a British Liberal Democrat politician and business development consultant. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Eastbourne from 2010 to 2015 and was the Liberal Democrats' spokesperson for Northern Ireland in the House of Commons.

Following his defeat on 7 May 2015 by Conservative candidate Caroline Ansell, he announced he would retire from politics. He said he "never had as much fun as being MP for Eastbourne and Willingdon".^[3]

After a petition called for him to reconsider his retirement from politics, ^[4] Lloyd announced in July 2016 that he would seek re-election as Member of Parliament for Eastbourne. ^[5]

Early life and career

Lloyd was born and brought up in the coastal city of Mombasa, Kenya, but was educated in the UK from the age of eight^[6] at St. George's College, Weybridge.

Lloyd is hearing-impaired. At the age of six, having contracted measles, Lloyd lost all hearing in his left ear, retaining only partial hearing in his right.^[7]

Prior to becoming a Member of Parliament, Lloyd worked in business for over 20 years.^[8] From 1998 to 2005, he worked as a business development director at the Grass Roots Group. After departing Grass Roots, Lloyd worked for the Federation of Small Businesses as a business development consultant until his election to parliament in 2010.^[9]

Electoral history

Lloyd contested the safe Conservative seat of Beaconsfield at the 2001 general election as the Liberal Democrat candidate.

In 2002, Lloyd was selected to contest the Liberal Democrat target seat of Eastbourne, defeating future Liberal Democrat parliamentary colleagues Duncan Hames and Tessa Munt. In the 2005 general election, despite increasing the Liberal Democrat vote, Lloyd lost to incumbent Conservative Party MP Nigel Waterson by less than 1%. Lloyd subsequently continued to campaign locally on numerous issues, such as leading the fight to oppose plans to build a new B&Q megastore in Sovereign Harbour, which was subsequently refused by the planning committee of Eastbourne Borough Council in October 2005.^[10]

In the 2010 General Election, Lloyd's campaign centred on local issues, his record of supporting Eastbourne residents and the town, and highlighting Nigel Waterson's expenses claims (such as his second home, which was 60 miles from the constituency in Beckenham, Kent).^[11] Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg hosted his eve of poll rally, at which former Conservative MP Ernle Money, who had moved to Eastbourne, pledged his support to Lloyd.^[12] On 7 May, Lloyd was elected Member of Parliament for Eastbourne with a majority of 3,435.^[13][14]

Defeated Conservative Nigel Waterson subsequently took legal action over the contents of Lloyd's leaflets distributed during the election; the leaflets had described Waterson as an "expenses scandal MP".^[15] On 9 December 2011 the High Court ruled that Lloyd had defamed Waterson. Lloyd appealed, and on 28 February 2013 the Court of Appeal found in Lloyd's favour, overturning the original judgment.^[16][17]

Lloyd lost his seat at Eastbourne to the Conservative candidate, Caroline Ansell, by 733 votes at the general election on 7 May 2015.^[18]

Member of Parliament

Lloyd was elected to the House of Commons Work and Pensions Select Committee in 2010. He was thought by the Labour opposition to be wavering about supporting changes to housing benefit presented to the committee, but declared that he supported the "direction of travel" of the government.^[19] He campaigned for concessions from the Department for Work and Pensions in relation to Personal Independence Payment descriptors to ensure that people with reduced mobility would still be entitled to their Motability vehicles.^[20]

He also lobbied the government to reconsider its reform to student visa regulations, which threatened the future of English language schools, arguing it was "nonsensical" to require overseas students to speak the language before they came to study it.^[21]

Lloyd served as chair of a number of all-party parliamentary groups including for Citizens Advice, microfinance, apprenticeships and further education and skills. He was also vice chair of the APPGs on deafness, mental health, dementia, ageing and older people, town centre management, multiple sclerosis, trading standards, pharmacy, and justice for Equitable Life policyholders.^[22] Additionally, the Federation of Small Businesses and City and Guilds of London Institute invited him to be their respective champions in parliament.

Lloyd founded the All Party Parliamentary Group on religious education in schools in 2010. He has led campaigns to improve, encourage and support RE teaching of the world's major faiths, and of the non-religious, in schools in England and Wales.^[23] The chair of the Religious Education Council praised him in The Times as a "key player" in promoting the importance of effective RE teaching in schools.^[24]

In January 2014, Lloyd was appointed as Parliamentary Private Secretary to Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Davey.^[25] He resigned from this position in December 2014 over his "profound disappointment" that the Department for Transport's new road investment strategy did not meet the demands of a local campaign to properly improve the A27 road.^[26]

Lloyd has argued that by entering the coalition government, the Liberal Democrats "saved the country" but "killed themselves".^[1] He rarely rebelled against the government, but voted against tuition fee increases,^[27] which he later said the party "should have died in a ditch" to defend their position on.^[1]

MP's Commission and local activity

Upon entering parliament Lloyd created the 'MP's Commission', composed of local business and community leaders in his Eastbourne constituency. Its initiatives included bringing back the Eastbourne 'Sunshine' Carnival;^[28] and organising a procurement conference to encourage further economic cooperation between the private sector and major public sector bodies in the town.^[29] Lloyd also developed a successful local apprenticeship initiative, aiming to recruit 100 apprenticeships in 100 days in Eastbourne. The initiative ultimately created 181 apprenticeships and received praise from Prime Minister David Cameron.^[30]

Lloyd's local work captured the attention of the national press, with The Guardian claiming that "his toil has yielded high levels of recognition and support, some of it close to admiration."^[31] Christina Patterson in The Independent remarked that "a political system that can produce elected representatives like this may well be as good as it gets."^[32] He was also associated with lobbying for additional funds for local housing projects^[33] and supporting negotiations over the regeneration of Eastbourne’s Arndale shopping centre.^[34]

He also supported appeals made by the parents of a five-year-old girl who died in his constituency. When the child's grandparents were denied visas to enter Britain to attend her funeral, Lloyd offered to personally guarantee their return to Zimbabwe.^[35][36]

In May 2014, Lloyd was awarded the Grassroot Diplomat Initiative Honouree for the “100 apprenticeships in 100 days” campaign.^[37] The campaign aimed to get 100 apprenticeships for trainees living in and around Eastbourne, within 100 days. Its success, 181 apprentices in the 100 days, led to Eastbourne recruiting 3,000 apprentices following the 2010 general election, lowering youth unemployment by 14%.

Post-parliamentary career

After leaving Parliament, Lloyd was appointed business development director at West End, an international event, broadcast, multimedia communications and exhibition company based in Eastbourne.^[38]

On his appointment, Lloyd said that "politics is all about winning people’s hearts and minds by conveying ideas clearly and with passion, and that’s very much what West End does. A big part of what I loved about being an MP was being able to solve people’s problems. The difference with West End is that we find solutions to corporate challenges rather than personal ones."^[39]

Following the 2015 General Election, Lloyd announced that he would retire from politics, and that he's "never had as much fun as being MP for Eastbourne and Willingdon."^[3]

Return to politics

In July 2016, Lloyd announced that he would contest the next General Election, saying that "since May last year, I've been touched by the almost constant levels of support from people and businesses locally, urging me to stand again as their MP", including a petition calling for him to stand again. ^[40] Launching his re-election campaign, 'Back Eastbourne - Back Lloyd, he said: "if I am re-elected, people know that I will always put Eastbourne above party politics." ^[41]

References

External links

• Lloyd's Website
• Eastbourne and Willingdon Liberal Democrats
• Profile at Parliament of the United Kingdom
• Contributions in Parliament at Hansard 1803–2005
• Current session contributions in Parliament at Hansard
• Voting record at Public Whip
• Record in Parliament at TheyWorkForYou
• Profile at Westminster Parliamentary Record
• Stephen Lloyd MP, Grassroot Diplomat