Stephen Lloyd
First term
### First term

At the [2010 general election](/wiki/2010_United_Kingdom_general_election "2010 United Kingdom general election"), Lloyd's campaign centred on local issues and highlighting of the expenses claims of his Conservative Party opponent, [Nigel Waterson](/wiki/Nigel_Waterson "Nigel Waterson"). He also asked to be lent votes by local supporters of the Labour and Green parties. Liberal Democrat leader [Nick Clegg](/wiki/Nick_Clegg "Nick Clegg") hosted his eve of poll rally, where former Conservative MP [Ernle Money](/wiki/Ernle_Money "Ernle Money"), who had moved to Eastbourne, pledged his support to Lloyd. On 7 May, Lloyd was elected the MP for [Eastbourne](/wiki/Eastbourne_%28UK_Parliament_constituency%29 "Eastbourne (UK Parliament constituency)") with a majority of 3,435 votes.

Waterson subsequently sued Lloyd for [libel](/wiki/Defamation "Defamation") over the contents of Lloyd's election leaflets, which had called Waterson an "expenses scandal MP". On 9 December 2011, the [High Court](/wiki/High_Court_of_Justice "High Court of Justice") ruled that Lloyd had defamed Waterson. Lloyd appealed, and on 28 February 2013 the [Court of Appeal](/wiki/Court_of_Appeal_%28England_and_Wales%29 "Court of Appeal (England and Wales)") found in Lloyd's favour, overturning the original judgment.

From 2010 to 2015, Lloyd served as the Liberal Democrats' spokesperson for [Northern Ireland](/wiki/Northern_Ireland "Northern Ireland") in the [House of Commons](/wiki/House_of_Commons "House of Commons"). Over the same period, Lloyd served on the [Work and Pensions Select Committee](/wiki/Work_and_Pensions_Select_Committee "Work and Pensions Select Committee") in the [House of Commons](/wiki/House_of_Commons "House of Commons"). He was thought by the Labour opposition to be wavering about supporting changes to housing benefit presented to the committee, but declared that he supported the "direction of travel" of the government. He campaigned for concessions from the [Department for Work and Pensions](/wiki/Department_for_Work_and_Pensions "Department for Work and Pensions") in relation to [Personal Independence Payment](/wiki/Personal_Independence_Payment "Personal Independence Payment") descriptors to ensure that people with reduced mobility would still be entitled to their [Motability](/wiki/Motability "Motability") vehicles.

In 2010, Lloyd lobbied the Government to reconsider its planned reforms to student visa regulations, which threatened the future of English language schools, arguing it was "nonsensical" to require overseas students to speak the language before they came to study it.

[thumb\|upright\|Lloyd outside parliament in March 2013](/wiki/File:Stephen_Lloyd_MP_Eastbourne.jpg "Stephen Lloyd MP Eastbourne.jpg")
Throughout his first term in Parliament, Lloyd served as chair of a number of [all\-party parliamentary groups](/wiki/All-party_parliamentary_group "All-party parliamentary group") including those for [Citizens Advice](/wiki/Citizens_Advice "Citizens Advice"), microfinance, apprenticeships and further education and skills. He also served as vice chair of the APPGs on deafness, mental health, dementia, ageing and older people, town centre management, multiple sclerosis, trading standards, pharmacy, and justice for [Equitable Life](/wiki/The_Equitable_Life_Assurance_Society "The Equitable Life Assurance Society") policyholders. Additionally, the [Federation of Small Businesses](/wiki/Federation_of_Small_Businesses "Federation of Small Businesses") and [City and Guilds of London Institute](/wiki/City_and_Guilds "City and Guilds") invited him to be their respective champions in parliament.

Lloyd founded the All Party Parliamentary Group on religious education in schools in 2010\. He has led campaigns to improve, encourage and support RE teaching of the world's major faiths, and of the non\-religious, in schools in England and Wales. The chair of the Religious Education Council praised him in *[The Times](/wiki/The_Times "The Times")* as a "key player" in promoting the importance of effective RE teaching in schools.

From January to December 2014, Lloyd served as Parliamentary Private Secretary to the [Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change](/wiki/Secretary_of_State_for_Energy_and_Climate_Change "Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change") [Ed Davey](/wiki/Ed_Davey "Ed Davey"). Lloyd resigned this position in December 2014 over his "profound disappointment" that the [Department for Transport](/wiki/Department_for_Transport "Department for Transport")'s new road investment strategy did not meet the demands of a local campaign to properly improve the [A27 road](/wiki/A27_road "A27 road").

Lloyd rarely rebelled against the coalition government on any parliamentary matter. Notable exceptions included his vote against tuition fee increases, which he later said the party "should have died in a ditch" to defend their position on. Lloyd has argued that by entering the [2010–15 coalition](/wiki/Cameron%E2%80%93Clegg_coalition "Cameron–Clegg coalition") government, the Liberal Democrats "saved the country" but "killed themselves".


What positions has Stephen Lloyd held as a spokesperson or committee member?