Lib Dems Prepare to Welcome Their New MP to Parliament

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Mon 19th Jul 2004

Parmjit Singh Gill is welcomed as the Lib Dems's 55th Member of Parliament

Liberal Democrat MP Annette Brooke will be attending the photo call tomorrow morning (10:30am) at the House of Commons to welcome officially the Lib Dems' 55th Member of Parliament, Parmjit Singh Gill to Westminster.

Only ten months since the Liberal Democrat's outstanding victory in London's Brent East by-election, Parliament's newest MP for Leicester South, Mr. Parmjit Gill, 37, will be sworn in and given a massive welcome to the parliamentary party.

Annette Brooke said:

"This is a fantastic achievement for the party and for Parmjit Gill"

"This is a fantastic achievement for the party and for Parmjit Gill, a young local candidate, who has worked so hard in Leicester South to gain this seat from New Labour.

"This victory has sent a message to Tony Blair and Michael Howard that they should not become complacent in the belief that there are safe seats within a two party political system. The electorate wants to be listened to, not taken for granted and ignored. Victory in Leicester and an extremely close second place in Birmingham show that for many voters the Conservatives are no credible alternative to this government."

In the early hours of Friday 16 June, Mr. Parmjit Singh Gill became the first ethnic minority Liberal Democrat MP. In the Birmingham constituency of Hodge Hill, the Lib Dem candidate Nicola Davies (30) narrowly missed taking the seat from Labour, overturning a Labour majority of over 11,000 in 2001 to only 460 votes.

Annette took time out of her busy constituency and Westminster schedule to help canvass and campaign at both the Birmingham and Leicester by-elections, where so many MPs and party activists flocked over the past few weeks. With a General Election less than a year away, and the recent publication of the Butler Report, an exciting by-election result has sent an important message to the government and official opposition.