Sarah Gibson is the Liberal Democrat MP for Chippenham, having first been elected to parliament at the 2024 general election.

In the 2024 general election, Gibson received 22,552 votes (45.5%). The Conservative candidate, Nic Puntis, received 14,414 votes (29.1%), while the Reform UK candidate, Benjamin Ginsburg, secured 6,127 votes (12.4%). Gibson was elected with a majority of 8,138 votes.

The Chippenham constituency is located in Wiltshire, South West England. The seat was re-established in 2010 and held by the Liberal Democrats from 2010 to 2015.

Gibson’s immediate predecessor as the MP for Chippenham was Michelle Donelan of the Conservative Party. Donelan, the sitting secretary of state for science, innovation and technology at the time of the 2024 election, held the seat from 2015 to 2024.

Political Career

Gibson is a member of the House of Commons environmental audit (since October 2024) – the commons select committee that acts as parliament’s primary cross-departmental watchdog on environmental issues. The EAC has a wide-ranging remit to examine how the policies and programmes of all government departments and public bodies impact environmental protection and sustainable development.

Gibson served as Liberal Democrat business spokesperson from September 2024 to September 2025.

Gibson delivered her maiden speech on 11 September 2024 during a debate on Building Safety and Resilience.

In it, she said: “I was lucky enough to be born into a family that cared deeply about my education… I became a town and unitary authority councillor. It is from that perspective of positive experience in local government that I felt I could do more to promote the interests of my community here in Westminster….”

She added: “Having worked in the construction industry as an architect in Spain, and having run an architectural practice in the UK for most of my professional life, I have seen far too often the construction industry fall foul of silo‑working and cost‑cutting.

“Value engineering is what we call it in the trade, but members should not be fooled; it adds no value and is very rarely engineered.”

Before entering parliament, Gibson accumulated extensive experience in local government. She was first elected to Wiltshire Council in May 2017. She also served as a councillor on Bradford-on-Avon Town Council from 2018, including a term as mayor in 2021.

Gibson stood down from both councillor posts in 2025.

During the 2024 general election, Gibson participated in one of Ed Davey’s famous stunts, joining the Liberal Democrat leader in Chippenham as he ploughed a large yellow tractor through a blue wall of blocks.

Davey also took a ride in a yellow 1929 Austin 7 car, driven by Gibson, during a campaign stop.

Political Views

The Liberal Democrats (or Lib Dems) are a liberal political party, occupying the centre to centre-left ground in British politics.

The preamble to the Lib Dem constitution begins: “The Liberal Democrats exist to build and safeguard a fair, free and open society, in which we seek to balance the fundamental values of liberty, equality and community, and in which no-one shall be enslaved by poverty, ignorance or conformity.”

The Liberal Democrat autumn conference in 2021 ratified a policy paper entitled What Liberal Democrats Believe. The paper, an attempt to expand on the constitution’s preamble, was framed around seven “principles and values”.

The party’s core values were described as “liberty, equality, democracy, community, internationalism and environmentalism.”

Gibson 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.”

Gibson 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.

In December 2024, Gibson 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, Gibson voted in favour of the UK-EU Customs Union (Duty to Negotiate) Bill. The bill, introduced under the 10-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

Gibson voted in favour of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, better known as the assisted dying bill, at both second reading (November 2024) and third reading (June 2025).

Social values and conscience issues

Abortion decriminalisation (2025): Gibson 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.

Before Politics

Born Sarah Gibson in April 1966, she attended Ralph Allen School, a comprehensive school in Bath.

She studied architecture at Kingston University London and gained a postgraduate degree from the Bartlett School of Architecture and Planning at University College London (UCL) in 1991.

After qualifying as an architect, she worked in the profession, including for a period in Spain. She worked for the Department of Agriculture in Spain.

From 2022 to 2024, she worked as a lecturer at the University of Bath.

Personal Life

Gibson is married to David.

In her 2024 maiden speech, she said that her husband built the first electric Austin 7 car.

In March 2025, Gibson returned to work after suffering a viral infection to her heart. “When I got the flu I contracted pericarditis which can be life-threatening and in my case, probably was”, she told the BBC. She spent the Christmas of 2024 in intensive care at the Royal United Hospital (RUH) in Bath, Somerset.

Trivia

Gibson joined the Liberal Party during freshers’ week at university.