Liberal Democrats : People

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WHO'S WHO

Andrew Stunell MP

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Lib Dem majority: 7,748 (20%)

Constituency: Hazel Grove

Region: North West

PA Number: 297

Address:
68A Compstall Road
Romiley
Stockport
SK6 4DE

Tel: 0161 406 7070

Fax: 0161 494 2425

Email: enquiries@andrewstunell.org.uk

Web: http://www.andrewstunell.libdems.org.uk

Date of Birth: 24.11.1942

Occupation: MP

Education: Surbiton Grammar School, Manchester University, Liverpool Polytechnic

Experience: Early career in architecture. Later Political Secretary of the Association of Liberal Democrat Councillors

Council Experience: Chester City Council 1979-90, Cheshire County Council 1981-91, Stockport Council since 1994. Vice President, Local Government Association

Parliamentary Experience: 2006-2007 Shadow DCLG Secretary, 2001-6 Chief Whip; Spokesman for Energy; Member of Select Committee on the Modernisation of the House of Commons, 2005- Finance and Services Select Committee

Marital status/children: Married, five children

Interests: Third World issues, European affairs

RESULTS 2005 election

Seat:

Hazel Grove

Liberal Democrats

19,355 (49%)

Turnout:

39,117 (61%)

Conservative

11,607 (30%)

Swing

1.0% Lib Dem to Con

Labour

6,834 (17%)

Other

1,321 (3%)

BIOGRAPHY

Andrew Stunell entered Parliament at his fifth attempt in 1997, gaining this seat from the Conservatives. He has been reselected to stand here at the next general election.

Andrew Stunell was educated at Surbiton Grammar School, the University of Manchester and Liverpool Polytechnic (now Liverpool John Moores University). After graduation he was an architectural assistant until 1989. Andrew is a former Baptist lay preacher; having worked on aid projects overseas as a student, Andrew has a long-standing interest in Third World issues.

From 1989 to 1996 he worked as Political Secretary of the Association of Liberal Democratic Councillors and was awarded the Order of the British Empire in 1993.

Andrew was leader of the Liberal Democrats on Cheshire County Council for 6 years, holding the balance of power, and Vice-Chair of the all-party Association of County Councils from 1985-90. He was a member of Stockport Council from 1994-2002. From 1989 to 1996 he worked as Political Secretary of the Association of Liberal Democratic Councillors (ALDC), heading the organisation, which trains and supports the country's Liberal Democrat councillors and its large body of campaigners; one of the Lib Dems' leading experts on local government, he has written several booklets on council practice and procedures. During his time in charge of the ALDC, Liberal Democrat councillor numbers more than doubled across the UK to over 5,000.

He has campaigned strongly on a wide range of local Hazel Grove issues, including policing levels, commuter transport problems and the cuts to housing benefit for tenants of private landlords. He chaired the Lib Dem Working Party that, in March 2000, submitted key evidence to government consultants on transport and traffic issues in Stockport, calling for the completion of the Hazel Grove bypass and Stepping Hill link (A555). The South East Manchester Multi Modal Study was endorsed by Ministers: a full scheme has been drawn up which will go to Public Inquiry soon. Fights to save local Post Offices, to keep NHS dentists, as well as the battle to cut police paperwork and get more officers out on the beat have all featured in the last year. Andrew has also pushed for improvements in mental health care, where the take-over of services by Pennine Health Trust still has to bring dividends.

In Parliament since 1997, he has taken a leading role on the Select Committee on Modernisation, updating House of Commons procedures; on the Finance and Services Committee, he has made a reputation for a clamp down on sloppy budgeting in Parliament; he was elected as Chief Whip in 2001 and stood down from the post in 2006.

Andrew came top of the ballot for Private Member’s Bills in autumn 2003 and brought forward his Sustainable and Secure Buildings Bill, which passed into law in 2004. It opens the way for more energy efficient and lower cost homes and gives the Police powers to require that buildings have crime resistance built into them, just as fire resistance already is.

From March 2006 until December 2007 Andrew Stunell was Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government; his priorities are: tackling the housing crisis; campaigning for strong local government and strong communities; and scrapping Council Tax.

Andrew has a keen interest in sustainable energy and the environment. He was the Lib Dem Energy Spokesperson from 1998-2005 and is the author of: Energy: Clean and Green by 2050 (1999); and The Nuclear Age: Cleaning Up The Mess (Centre for Reform 2001), a paper on the management of nuclear waste, with energy policy researcher Maria Menezes.