Steve Webb

http://www.libdems.org.uk/steve_webb

Steve Webb MP
Minister for Pensions

Steve Webb has been the MP for Thornbury & Yate (formerly Northavon) since 1997.

He was born in Birmingham in July 1965 and attended the local comprehensive school before going on to Hertford College, Oxford to study Philosophy, Politics & Economics.

Before standing for Parliament, Steve worked for the Institute of Fiscal Studies, specialising in researching into poverty, taxes and benefits, before being appointed Professor of Social Policy at Bath University in 1995.

Record Of Delivery
As local MP since 1997, Steve has led a wide range of campaigns in partnership with local residents and local Lib Dem councillors. With a constituency which includes many rural villages and smaller market towns, he has successfully campaigned to defend local services such as village post offices and schools, as well as for improved access to broadband. He has supported local businesses and promoted apprenticeships, and unemployment in the constituency is well below the national average. He has pressed for improved public transport capacity, including extra carriages on train services from Yate and the electrification of the Great Western mainline. Recent campaign successes include securing a cinema for Yate, improved public transport to the new Southmead hospital and helping to save the CAB service in Thornbury.

Steve has held hundreds of regular weekly surgery sessions and has a strong track record of helping local people in need with a range of problems. Steve has used his particular expertise in the field of pensions to help many local women to obtain a boost to their state pension.

Parliamentary Experience
Since being elected to the House of Commons in 1997, Steve has been the Liberal Democrats’ Spokesperson on: Health; Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; Energy and Climate Change; and Work and Pensions.

In 2010, following the formation of the Coalition Government, Steve was appointed to serve as Minister of State for Pensions, and remains the longest holder of the post since its formation in 1998.

Steve’s proudest Lib Dem achievement in government is his work as pensions minister. He introduced the ‘triple lock’ which protects the value of the basic state pension, and has also taken through legislation to reform and simplify the pension system for future generations, particularly to benefit women. He has also overseen the automatic enrolment of millions of workers into workplace pensions for the first time, and continues to champion the rights of consumers to decent pensions.