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South West Surrey Liberal DemocratsCampaigning for interests of Farnham, Godalming and Haslemere |
Catherine Bearder
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South East England MEP
27 Park End Street
Oxford
OX1 1HU
01865 249 813 (landline)
Twitter: catherinemep
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Catherine is well-known to Liberal Democrats all over the south east region as a passionate campaigner and hard-working activist. Born in 1949, a farmers daughter, Catherine is the third of four daughters. After a career in the voluntary sector, raising three sons and promoting the Liberal Democrats throughout our region, she has the perfect experience to make Europe greener, more liberal and more democratic as our MEP.
A former Lib Dem councillor, twice European candidate and twice parliamentary candidate, she has fought for the Liberal Democrats at every level.
Catherine has been organiser of the regional party's conference for the past three years and is vice-chair of the Lib Dem European Group. She has the qualifications to be a great Lib Dem MEP and the campaigning skills to win the votes we need for our party.
Simon, her husband, is a professor at Oxford Brookes University and heads the Nocturnal Primate Research Group. After they married, Catherine worked as a field assistant in zoological fieldwork on South African game reserves. They have three sons, Timothy b 1976, who lives in Oxford; Ian b 1978, who is sharing his time between Slovenia and the UK and Peter b 1981, who has recently returned from Columbia working with NGOs to protect human rights.
Having travelled the world studying conservation issues, it is no surprise that Catherine puts prime emphasis on tackling climate change. She is vice-president of the Green Liberal Democrats and looks forward to championing the environment in the European Parliament.
Catherine is a staunch supporter of the European ideal, but unafraid to challenge the realities of the EU when they don't meet that ideal. As Director of Campaigns for Britain in Europe in our region, she worked to highlight the massive economic benefits of EU membership. She has backed the 'one parliament' campaign and thinks MEPs needs to push for more reforms to modernise the EU.
She has also campaigned on social justice and rural issues, with particular interest in tackling homelessness and social exclusion. In the spare time she has outside Lib Dem campaigning, Catherine enjoys watercolour painting and gardening.
Catherine has the perfect CV to represent the south east region in the European Parliament and the skills to promote Liberal Democracy at every level in it.