Sarah Green (politician)

Sarah Louise Green (born 25 April 1982) is a British businesswoman and Liberal Democrat politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Chesham and Amersham since the 2021 Chesham and Amersham by-election. Green is the first Liberal Democrat to represent the constituency, which had previously been Conservative since its creation in 1974.

Early life and education
Sarah Green was born on 25 April 1982 in Corwen, Clwyd in North Wales, and grew up there. She studied at Aberystwyth University and Manchester Metropolitan University. She was the chair of IR Cymru (now Welsh Young Liberals) during her time at Aberystwyth. She speaks Welsh fluently.

Early career
Green founded the marketing and communications company Green and Ginger in 2014. Her previous experience included working for Euromonitor International and Kantar TNS.

Green was selected as the Liberal Democrat candidate for the Ynys Môn constituency for the 2005 general election. She finished fifth with 6.8% of the vote behind the incumbent Labour MP Albert Owen, Plaid Cymru's Eurig Wyn, the independent candidate Peter Rogers, and the Conservative candidate.

At the 2010 general election, Green contested Arfon, where she finished fourth with 14.1% of the vote behind Plaid Cymru's Hywel Williams, Labour's Alun Pugh, and the Conservative's Robin Millar.

In 2019, Green worked on Dominic Grieve's general election campaign.

Parliamentary career
On 4 April 2021, Dame Cheryl Gillan died from cancer, triggering the 2021 Chesham and Amersham by-election. Green was elected as MP with 56.7% of the vote and a majority of 8,028. Green is only the third MP to represent the constituency since its creation in 1974, and is the constituency's second consecutive Welsh-born MP.

In her victory speech, Green called on voters to "reject Conservative mismanagement" and vowed to "continue the work of holding this Government to account for letting Covid rip through the care homes. We will speak up for the three million people excluded from financial support throughout the pandemic and we will challenge Boris Johnson to be far more ambitious in tackling climate change, supporting our frontline workers and backing our small businesses." She was sworn into Parliament on 21 June 2021, and made her maiden speech on 7 September 2021.

On 11 July 2022, Green was appointed Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for International Trade and Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Wales.

In February 2024, Green was re-selected as the Liberal Democrats' candidate for Chesham and Amersham at the 2024 general election.

In April 2024, The Times reported on Green's use of an outsourcing company owned by a former Liberal Democrat official, Candy Piercy. The company, Midas Training, which has received over £120,000 via Green's parliamentary expenses, is run by Candy Piercy, the Vice Chair of Green's local party. Piercy's daughter, Miranda Roberts, is also a director of Midas Training and a member of the Chesham and Amersham Liberal Democrats executive committee.

HS2 Railway Line
Like her predecessor and her rival Conservative candidate, Green opposes the construction of the HS2 railway line that was planned to go through her constituency. The day after the by-election, party leader Ed Davey was challenged on BBC Radio 4's Today programme on how his party's support for HS2 fitted with Green's stated opposition to the project. The local party campaigned against HS2, despite the national party giving the project their full backing at the 2019 general election. Davey said the party is still in favour of the project but that they would be a "thorn in the side" of the delivery company HS2 Ltd, saying that it had ignored local people's concerns over issues such as the transparency of the impact of the Chilterns tunnelling works on local water supplies.

Planning laws
Green opposed the changes to England's planning laws that were proposed by the Conservative government in 2021 which she claimed would "see more unwanted destruction to our countryside", "allow developers to build over our greenbelt with local residents powerless to stop them", and "be a devastating blow to our area". These plans were subsequently dropped by the government later that year in response to reaction amongst Conservatives MPs across the South-East who feared for their own electoral chances following Green's election. Planning reform remains a contentious issue across the South-East especially in Green belt areas.

2024 general election
Vote share changes for the 2024 election are compared to the notional results from the 2019 election, not the 2021 by-election.

2010 general election
*Served as MP for the predecessor seat of Caernarfon in the 2001-2010 Parliament