Eleanor Laing - Parliamentary Career

Parliamentary Career

Laing contested Paisley North in the 1987 general election.

When Laing was first elected to the Epping Forest constituency in 1997, the seat had been reduced to marginal status by the Labour landslide. Before election, she had had been offered support by Sir Malcolm Rifkind and was generally considered to be a Europhile. Once in Parliament, she appeared to sign up to the Eurosceptic-wing of the party, first supporting Michael Howard then William Hague for the Conservative leadership. After the election she sat on the Education and Employment Committee, chaired by Labour Margaret Hodge although apparently attended none of its sessions. She was seen as a rising star in her early career, with good performances in the Commons and strong attacks against Labour.

She was a strong critic of devolution, and attacked the government on many of the details of the transfer of power. In December 2000 she was appointed as opposition Scottish spokeswoman.

In 2001 the seat returned to safe status with a 19.8% majority. In 2005, she increased that majority to 32%. She has an interest in education, transport, economic policy, constitution and devolution. In 2008 she was one of 172 MPs who voted to preserve what critics call a lax and over-generous system of Parliamentary expenses which permit Members of Parliament to claim for expenses without producing receipts.

After the 2010 General Election, and the return of the Conservatives to power, Laing received no post in the government, and now sits on the backbenches.