Wendy Chamberlain is the Liberal Democrat MP for North East Fife, having first been elected at the 2019 general election.

In the 2024 general election, Chamberlain received 23,384 votes in North East Fife, representing 54.7% of the vote share. The Scottish National Party (SNP) candidate, Stefan Hoggan-Radu, received 9,905 votes (23.2%), while the Labour Party candidate, Jennifer Gallagher, secured 4,026 votes (9.4%). Chamberlain was duly elected with a majority of 13,479.

The North East Fife constituency is located in eastern Scotland, encompassing towns like St Andrews, Cupar, and Leuchars, along with surrounding villages and coastline. It is home to the University of St Andrews and the St Andrews Links golf courses.

The seat was represented by former Liberal Democrat leader Sir Menzies Campbell from 1987 to 2015, before being held by the SNP from 2015 until Chamberlain regained it for the Liberal Democrats in 2019.

Political Career

Chamberlain was appointed as Liberal Democrat chief whip in 2020 by the party leader, Sir Ed Davey. As chief whip, she is responsible for party discipline and organisation within parliament.

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Chamberlain was elected as deputy leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats in December 2021.

In addition, Chamberlain is a member of the House of Commons modernisation committee (since September 2024). The modernisation committee is a cross-party committee of MPs that considers reforms to House of Commons procedures, standards, and working practices.

Chamberlain previously held Liberal Democrat spokesperson roles covering work and pensions (2020-2024), Scotland (2020-2022), Wales (2020-2022), international development (2020), Northern Ireland (2020) and Cabinet Office (2020).

Chamberlain successfully introduced a private members’ bill (PMB) which became the Carer’s Leave Act 2023. This act provides employees who are unpaid carers with a statutory entitlement to unpaid leave from work to care for dependants.

Commenting on the bill’s passage, Chamberlain said: “Unpaid carers are the backbone of our society. I said that at the beginning of this process almost a year ago, and I believe it even more strongly today…

“Yet far too many unpaid carers go without adequate support and struggle to balance caring responsibilities and work… [My bill] is a first step to providing greater support. It will allow carers to take time off work to manage caring responsibilities. I hope that it will provide many people with the flexibility they need.”

Chamberlain has actively campaigned on issues supporting carers and Women Against State Pension Inequality (“WASPI women”). In December 2024, when the work and pensions secretary, Liz Kendall, announced the government would not provide compensation, Chamberlain condemned the government for “setting a precedent by ignoring an independent resolution process”.

Upon the publication of the report in March 2024, Chamberlain said: “Liberal Democrats have long supported Waspi in their campaign and it is now up to this Conservative government to come forward with a plan to get these women the compensation they are owed.”

Chamberlain is listed as a member of the all-party parliamentary groups (APPGs) for Afghan women and girls, carers and food banks.

Chamberlain delivered her maiden speech on 14 January 2020 during a debate on education and local government. Commenting on the need for electoral reform, she stated: “It took 330,000 votes in the general election to elect me or one of my Liberal Democrat MP colleagues, whereas it took just 38,000 votes to elect a Conservative.

“To elect the only MP for the Greens [Caroline Lucas] took 866,000 votes. On a personal level, I would much rather that people voted for me and my party because they liked and agreed with me and my party’s policies the most, rather than because we are the option that they disliked the least.”

She added: “I am aware that I come from a position of privilege. I am white, heterosexual and cisgender. I was in a position where I could afford to take an unpaid career break during the election campaign, then leave my employment directly after my election.”

Political Views

Chamberlain was one of three Liberal Democrat MPs, alongside Jamie Stone and Wera Hobhouse, to endorse the unsuccessful candidacy of Layla Moran in the party’s 2020 leadership election.

Setting out her support for Moran, Chamberlain said that her party’s “distinctive, liberal voice is needed more than ever” and described her pick for leader as a “radical choice.”

Chamberlain is a member of the Green Liberal Democrats, an official environmental group within the Liberal Democrats. It aims to “promote a green approach to policy formation within the Liberal Democrats” and “develop links with the wider green movement.” The grouping, formed in 1977 as a faction within the Liberal Party, is “committed to a net-zero and nature positive future and driving ambition across the national party and in local governance.”

Electoral reform

Fair elections APPG: Chamberlain is listed as a member of the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) for fair elections – a cross-party group of MPs and peers that campaigns for electoral reform. The group’s stated aims include replacing the first past the post (FPTP) voting system with a form of proportional representation, eliminating “dark money” and “undemocratic influence” from politics, and countering disinformation.

Electoral reform amendment: In May 2026, Chamberlain signed an amendment to the Representation of the People Bill, calling on the government to establish a “national commission on electoral reform”. Tabled by Alex Sobel as chair of the fair elections APPG, the amendment aimed to force a rethink of the first past the post voting system.

At the time, Sobel described FPTP as “one of the biggest examples of a broken status quo in UK politics.” He invited colleagues to join this “common sense call to take a fresh look at how parliament is elected in modern Britain.”

Proportional representation bill: In December 2024, Chamberlain voted in favour of the Elections (Proportional Representation) Bill – introduced by Liberal Democrat frontbencher Sarah Olney under the 10-minute rule procedure. The bill sought to “introduce a system of proportional representation for parliamentary elections and for local government elections in England”.

A total of 138 MPs supported the bill – with 136 opposed. Notably, 59 Labour MPs backed Olney’s bill.

Introducing the bill, Olney told the House: “First past the post is a broken and unfair system. This summer, the Labour party won a landslide election victory, securing 63% of seats in the House of Commons in return for just 34% of the vote.

“The system leaves millions of voices unheard and creates a divisive, adversarial political climate where collaboration is discouraged and accountability is often sidestepped.”

Brexit and Europe

Customs union vote (2025): In December 2025, Chamberlain voted in favour of the UK-EU Customs Union (Duty to Negotiate) Bill. The bill, introduced under the ten-minute rule procedure by Liberal Democrat Europe spokesperson Al Pinkerton, sought to mandate the government to enter into negotiations with the European Union to establish a bespoke customs union. In total, 13 Labour MPs joined the Liberal Democrats in supporting the motion, while the majority of the party abstained.

Assisted dying

Chamberlain voted in favour of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, better known as the assisted dying bill, at second reading (November 2024). However, she actively abstained at the bill’s third reading (June 2025) – walking through both the Aye and No lobbies.

In a statement issued ahead of the bill’s second reading debate, Chamberlain said she would support the proposed legislation to ensure ample “scrutiny takes place.”

She added: “I’ll be listening closely to the debate and, if successful, its further stages, before making a final decision on whether I support its content at the remaining stage in the commons. I’m grateful to those who have written or spoken to me about their own personal experiences and will commit to undertaking further consultation should the bill proceed.”

Chamberlain later outlined her decision to actively abstain in a social media video, posted to X (formerly Twitter). She expressed concerns about the “lack of pre-legislative scrutiny”.

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Social values and conscience issues

Abortion decriminalisation (2025): Chamberlain voted in favour of a backbench amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill that sought to decriminalise abortion in England and Wales in June 2025. The amendment, which was passed by a majority of 242 votes, removed women from the threat of prosecution for ending a pregnancy at any stage. As an issue of conscience, MPs were allowed to vote according to their personal beliefs.

X letter: In November 2025, Chamberlain was one of 34 cross-party MPs and peers who signed a letter to Ofcom demanding an investigation into the social media platform X (formerly Twitter). The letter, led by Joani Reid, chair of the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) on antisemitism, called on the regulator to determine whether the platform was in breach of its legal duties under the Online Safety Act following a reported surge in antisemitic content and calls for violence against Jews on X.

Palestine

Ceasefire vote (November 2023): Chamberlain voted for an SNP amendment to the king’s speech in the House of Commons calling for an “immediate ceasefire” in the Israel-Hamas war. Labour had tabled a rival motion, making a more moderate appeal for a “humanitarian pause” in the conflict.

Civil liberties

Covid passes campaign (2021): Chamberlain was one of over 70 MPs and peers who launched a cross-party campaign against the “divisive and discriminatory use” of Covid passes in April 2021. The campaign was triggered by government reviews into “vaccine passports”, which signatories argued would create a two-tier society and infringe upon fundamental civil liberties.

Covid passes vote (2021): Chamberlain was one of 126 MPs to vote against Covid passes in England in December 2021. The measure, introduced by Boris Johnson’s government, was carried by 369 votes to 126.

Before Politics

Wendy Anne Chamberlain was born in Greenock, Scotland, in 1976.

She studied English Literature at the University of Edinburgh, graduating with an MA.

From 1999 to 2011, she served as a police officer with Lothian and Borders Police.

After leaving the police service, she worked as a communications lecturer for Fife College. She subsequently worked as a training manager for the Scottish Resettlement Centre and was then a capability manager for drinks company ‘Diageo’.

Personal Life

Chamberlain is married and has two children. She resides with her family in Fife.

Her husband Keith is a member of the SNP. “We both want the same things, we just believe that there’s different ways of achieving them”, Chamberlain told the Holyrood magazine in a 2020 interview.

Trivia

Chamberlain holds a general certificate in distilling. She offered to tutor MPs on the topic in her maiden speech.

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In 2017, she became the first female director of the Camanachd Association, the governing body for the sport of shinty.