Elizabeth Lynne (born 22 January 1948) is a British politician, and was a

Member of the European Parliament A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the ECSC) first met in 1952, its ...

(MEP) for the

West Midlands West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...

for the Liberal Democrats from the 1999 European election until she retired in 2012. Previously she had been elected as

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

(MP) for

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, at the foothills of the South Pennines in the dale on the River Roch, northwest of Oldham and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough ...

at the 1992 general election but was defeated at the 1997 general election.

Biography

Lynne was born in Woking and educated at Dorking County Grammar School. Between 1966 and 1989 she was an actress, appearing in ''

The Mousetrap ''The Mousetrap'' is a murder mystery play by Agatha Christie. ''The Mousetrap'' opened in London's West End in 1952 and ran continuously until 16 March 2020, when the stage performances had to be temporarily discontinued during the COVID-1 ...

''. She also worked as a speech consultant between 1988 and 1992. In 1987 general election she contested Harwich where she was defeated. Lynne is the founder and former chair of the

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

n Co-ordination for the British Section of Amnesty International. Whilst an MP she was the Liberal Democrats' spokesperson on Health and Community Care, and then spokesperson on

Social Security Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specifical ...

and

Disability Disability is the experience of any condition that makes it more difficult for a person to do certain activities or have equitable access within a given society. Disabilities may be cognitive, developmental, intellectual, mental, physical, ...

. She is also one the patrons for the domestic violence charity ManKind Initiative. She was rated as the 35th best out of all 785 MEPs and 9th best of the 78 UK MEPs on promoting transparency and reform according to the

Open Europe Open Europe was a British centre-right eurosceptic policy think tank with offices in London and Brussels, merging with the Policy Exchange think tank in 2020. Its stated mission was to "conduct rigorous analysis and produce recommendation ...

think tank. She was a founding member—and Vice President—of the European Parliament Intergroup

MEPs Against Cancer MEPs Against Cancer is a group of 130 Members of the European Parliament A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parlia ...

Political career

Lynne has been an MP and an MEP. She sat as an MEP for the

from 1999 to 2012. On 5 November 2011 she announced that she would be stepping down from the position, and she did so on 3 February 2012. Her seat was filled by

Phil Bennion Phillip Bennion (born 7 October 1954) is a British Liberal Democrat politician. He served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the West Midlands from 2012 to 2014, and then from 2019 to 2020. Early life and education Bennion was bo ...

, who was second on the Liberal Democrat party list.

References

External links

Liz Lynne MEP
official site

profile at the European Parliament
Liz Lynne
archived profile at the site of the Liberal Democrats * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lynne, Liz 1948 births Living people Liberal Democrats (UK) MPs for English constituencies Liberal Democrats (UK) MEPs Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies UK MPs 1992–1997 Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Rochdale MEPs for England 1999–2004 MEPs for England 2004–2009 MEPs for England 2009–2014 20th-century women MEPs for England 21st-century women MEPs for England People from Woking British actor-politicians People educated at Dorking Grammar School ManKind Initiative people