Layla Moran confirmed as new Health Select Committee chair
The Lib Dem MP elected unopposed, and states her wish for the Committee to act as "critical friend" to Government
The Health and Social Care Select Committee has now confirmed that the new Committee Chair will be the Liberal Democrat MP, Layla Moran.
Elected unopposed by her party colleagues (with chairmanship of the Health and Social Care having already been allocated to the Lib Dems), the MP for Oxford West and Abingdon stated her wish for the Committee to become a “critical friend” of the government, listing the issues of reducing waiting lists, the workforce crisis, and treatment of the elderly as some of the priorities.
Ms Moran, a former candidate for the Lib Dem leadership who is considered to be on the left of the party, will combine her Select Committee chairmanship with her role as the Lib Dems’ spokesperson for Foreign Affairs and International Development. She has previously spoken on issues related to Brexit (she, like many of her party colleagues, was a hardcore Remainer, though regretted the party’s 2019 manifesto pledge to cancel the referendum result); the Middle East, especially Israel and Palestine; and LGBTQI+ rights (she identifies as pansexual).
In terms of health-related policy matters, she was one of three MPs who successfully took legal action against the Department of Health and Social Care regarding contracts awarded during the Covid pandemic. She has also spoken previously on the importance of mental health services, citing her own experience as a student when she suffered from depression as a result of negative self-image.
Elections for the remaining Committee chairmanships are expected throughout the remainder of this week, after which the three main parties will host their respective conferences (the Lib Dems hosting the first of these, between Sunday 15 to Tuesday 17 September). On Parliament’s return on 7 October,
Elections for Select Committee memberships will take place from 7 October, following Parliament’s from recess.