Eleanor Laing

Early life

Laing was born in Paisley, Renfrewshire and raised in the nearby village of Elderslie, where her father was a councillor. She attended the local fee paying St Columba's School. Later, she graduated from Edinburgh University with Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws degrees. She was the first female President of the Edinburgh University Students' Association. She worked as a solicitor in Edinburgh and the City of London.

Laing contested Paisley North in the 1987 general election, but was defeated by the Labour incumbent Allen Adams.

Parliamentary career

When Laing was first elected as the MP for the Epping Forest constituency at the 1997 general election, the seat was reduced to marginal status by the Labour landslide. Before her election, she had been offered support by 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 was selected for the Education and Employment Committee, chaired by Labour's Margaret Hodge. 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 Blair government on many of the details of the transfer of power. In December 2000, she was appointed as opposition Scottish spokeswoman.

In 2001, her constituency returned to safe seat 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.

After the 2010 general election, and the return of the Conservatives to power, Laing did not receive a post in the Government. On 16 October 2013, she was elected as the First Deputy Chairman of Ways and Means, the holder of which post is one of the Deputy Speakers.

Gay rights

Laing sponsored the motion for lowering the homosexual age of consent to 16 in 1998, saying "Nothing that is being proposed tonight is in any way encouraging physical sexual activity among young people before they are sufficiently mature." She differed with many of her Conservative colleagues, saying "It is nonsense to say that there cannot be equality between 16-year-old boys and 16-year-old girls. Young people need protection, but young people are not protected by being made into criminals." She opposed fellow Tories such as Nicholas Winterton who said that "a homosexual act is unnatural", replying that the Bill did not challenge Christian teaching, and that it would not legalise anything which did not already happen.

When bishops were told to vote against an equal gay rights law in March 2007, Laing spoke in favour of the law arguing that "her brand of Christianity" preached "live and let live".

Laing however criticised the manner in which the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013 was introduced, arguing "social change should come about by evolution, not by diktat from the top of government", and subsequently abstained from voting on it.

Criticism of pregnant MP

In January 2016, Laing publicly criticised Tulip Siddiq, who was 7 months pregnant at the time, for breaking the customs of the House by leaving a debate to eat. Siddiq had already been in the debate for two hours and left at 14:30 shortly after speaking. According to witnesses, Laing told Siddiq not to use her pregnancy as an excuse for her behaviour.

MPs' expenses scandal

In 2007, Laing voted against MPs' expense claims being made public. In 2008 she was one of 172 MPs who voted to preserve what critics called a lax and over-generous system of Parliamentary expenses, which permits Members of Parliament to claim for expenses without producing receipts.

After details of MPs' expense claims were released by the press it was shown that Laing had avoided paying £180,000 capital gains tax on the sale of her Westminster flat by declaring it as her primary residence. This was due to its having a higher value than her constituency home, making it her primary residence under CGT rules. However she had registered the flat as her second home with the Parliamentary Fees Office, and by doing so had claimed through her Additional Costs Allowance some of the interest due on her mortgage.

Her constituency is Epping Forest, which is close to London and less than an hour's journey by tube. When questioned, she said that prior to the sale of the flat she had sought the advice of her solicitor. Laing was cleared by the Legg Inquiry; nonetheless, she voluntarily repaid £25,000 as a "moral gesture". As a result of the scandal, an unsuccessful attempt was made to deselect her by her constituency party, led by the Leader of Epping Forest District Council. The Daily Telegraph subsequently published an apology for their reporting of the story.

Private life

Laing is a fan of Rangers F.C., and the vice-chairman of the Westminster Parliamentary Rangers Supporters' Club.

Past and present positions