Rotherham & Barnsley Liberal Democrats

It was confirmed today that Rebecca Taylor, our candidate for Rotherham in the 2010 General Election, will become Yorkshire & The Humber's newest MEP following the resignation of Diana Wallis last week.

Diana decided to step down as MEP for personal reasons after serving the region with distinction in the European Parliament for over twelve years. Rebecca was third on the party's list in the 2009 Euro Elections behind Diana and Stewart Arnold, who announced last week that he would not take over the vacant position from his wife.

It has been announced today that our candidate for Rotherham in the 2005 General Election, Tim Gordon, will be the Party's new Chief Executive, taking up his position in January 2012.

Tim Farron, the Party President, says that Tim "brings to the role a lifetime of commitment to the Party, as a volunteer, campaigner and candidate, but also a strong commercial background and clearly demonstrated leadership qualities.

Tim Gordon has been a Party activist since his teens, when he first volunteered for the SDP "Yes to Unity" campaign, and has since campaigned in every major election. He stood as parliamentary candidate in Rotherham in 2005. He worked as a researcher for David Steel when he was Foreign Affairs spokesperson, and has been a member of several policy working groups over the years. He is currently an active member in Islington.

Tim Gordon's professional career has been shaped in the world of strategic business management. He started at the Financial Times, before working at The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and most recently as Group Development Director at European Directories, a large European media company. Through this career Tim has demonstrated strategic thinking, use of online technology to deliver change, fundraising ability, an understanding of internal organisation dynamics and experience of building alignment around common priorities.

Tim takes over from Chris Fox, who leaves us on Wednesday to take up a new role as Director of Group Communications at a FTSE100 engineering company."

Many will remember Tim as a totally committed candidate in the 2005 election, working hard and achieving second place behind Denis MacShane.

Commenting on Ed Miliband's speech to Labour Party conference, Liberal Democrat Deputy Leader, Simon Hughes said:

"One speech can't wash away his record as a key part of the New Labour government that trampled on our civil liberties and left our economy in ruins.

"Ed Miliband was special advisor to Gordon Brown when he was Chancellor and voted for ID cards and 90 day detention without charge when he was in government.

Commenting on the IMF's report on the British economy released today, Co-Chair of the Liberal Democrat Treasury Parliamentary Committee, Stephen Williams said:

"The IMF's strong backing of the Government's economic plans shows that the Coalition's approach to sorting out the economic mess we inherited is the right one.

Simon Hughes comments on the election of Ed Miliband as the new Labour Leader

Commenting on the election of the new Labour Leader, Liberal Democrat Deputy Leader, Simon Hughes said:

"I want warmly to congratulate Ed Miliband on becoming the new Labour leader.

"It is good to hear that he intends to practise a new politics of working across party boundaries in the national interest.

Annette Brooke, MP for Mid Dorset & North Poole, has won MP of the Year in the Dods & Scottish Widows Women in Public Life Awards.

The panel of judges, which included Shami Chakrabarti, Director of Liberty, Dame Suzi Leather, Chair of The Charity Commission and Dame Barbara Stocking, Chief Executive of Oxfam chose Annette because of her efforts "tirelessly lending her wisdom, position and huge skill to help hundreds of children's organisations, and by association, many thousands of children."

Today Liberal Democrat Leader and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg launched Liberal Democrats Abroad, a network of branches for party members living outside of the UK.

Commenting, Nick Clegg said:

"In response to requests from our many supporters overseas and reflecting the Party's internationalist outlook, we have decided to set up a new organisation called Liberal Democrats Abroad to connect with our members and supporters living overseas.

Diana hosted a meeting in the European Parliament recently to discuss a moratorium on oil and gas drilling in the Arctic.

Diana was one of the speakers along with Frederic Hauge from the international environmental group Bellona and Paul Nemitz, Head of Unit, Maritime Policy for the Atlantic Ocean, the Arctic and the Outermost Region in DG Mare in the European Commission. The meeting was chaired by Riikka Manner, Chair of the Arctic Subgroup in the European Parliament

Diana opened the 9th Conference of Parliamentarians from the Arctic region hosted by the European Parliament in Brussels recently. Key issues like sustainable management of resources, cooperation in education and research and the melting summer ice dominated the agenda.

In her opening speech to the hundred or so delegates, Diana urged the Arctic Council to "increase its capacity to deal more thoroughly with issues in the region and bring leaders together". In supporting reform of the Arctic Council she also emphasised the need for "greater parliamentary input".