James MacCleary is the Liberal Democrat MP for Lewes, having first been elected to parliament at the 2024 general election.

In the 2024 general election, MacCleary won 26,895 votes, representing 50.6% of the vote. The Conservative candidate, Maria Caulfield, received 14,271 votes (26.8%), while the Reform UK candidate, Bernard Brown, secured 6,335 votes (11.9%). MacCleary was duly elected with a majority of 12,624.

The Lewes constituency is located in East Sussex, in the South East of England. The seat was previously held by the Conservatives from 2015 to 2024, and before that by the Liberal Democrats from 1997 to 2015.

MacCleary’s immediate predecessor as the MP for Lewes was Maria Caulfield of the Conservative Party. Caulfield held the seat from 2015 to 2024.

Political Career

MacCleary currently serves on the Liberal Democrat frontbench as defence spokesperson. He was appointed to this role in September 2025, having previously served as Europe spokesperson (2024-2025).

In January 2025, MacCleary introduced a private member’s bill (PMB) under the 10-minute rule procedure to establish a reciprocal youth mobility scheme with the European Union.

MacCleary argued that the Youth Mobility Scheme (EU Countries) Bill would help counter “acute” labour shortages by allowing young EU nationals to fill staffing gaps in sectors like hospitality, the arts, entertainment and retail.

He told the House: “What I am proposing is a pragmatic, defined scheme that will once again allow young people across the UK to be able to spend time with our nearest neighbours without having to navigate a tangle of Brexit red tape…

“This is a moment to bring opportunity and renewed good will back into the heart of UK-EU relations – a real reset…

“Many on the Labour and Conservative benches know that a youth mobility scheme with the EU is the right thing to do. It is time to rebuild our relationship with Europe and set our young people free.”

In April 2025, MacCleary was among the group of MPs placed on a sanctions list by the Russian government. The measure barred them from entering Russia and was presented by Moscow as a retaliatory response to the UK’s stance on the invasion of Ukraine.

In response, MacCleary said he would “wear it as a badge of honor that Vladimir Putin would see my comments… as such a threat to what he’s trying to do to democracy, freedom across Eastern Europe and across the world.”

In March 2025, MacCleary participated in a Westminster Hall debate on a public petition calling for the United Kingdom to rejoin the European Union as a full member. The debate was triggered by an e-petition signed by over 128,000 people.

In the debate, MacCleary rejected earlier claims of “sunlit uplands”, “global Britain” and “endless opportunities”, arguing that “the sunlit uplands look suspiciously gloomy, global Britain seems isolated, and the promised opportunities have become lost chances, especially for our young people.”

He called for the creation of a bespoke UK-EU customs union, which he said would “remove mountains of red tape, eliminate cumbersome rules of origin checks and unlock significant growth for businesses, both large and small.”

MacCleary has sat as a member of the House of Commons finance committee (2024-2026).

MacCleary delivered his maiden speech on 26 July 2024 during a debate on making Britain a clean energy superpower.

In it, he said: “Our constituents, the business community and the UK’s international allies are carefully watching this new government and parliament to see if we are serious about once again making the UK a leader in the transition to a clean, safe and inclusive low-carbon economy…

“We must ensure that communities that are taking on renewable energy facilities, such as for solar power, can directly benefit. That should include community ownership of smaller-scale schemes.”

He added: “Many honourable members are parents like me. We all need to be able to look our children in the eye and say that we did everything we could to secure their future and that of all future generations.

“Doing the best for our children – for all children – is one of my personal political priorities, particularly through the early years. We need to start treating childcare less as a cost to the taxpayer and more as an investment in the future of our country.”

Before entering parliament, MacCleary accumulated extensive experience in local government. He served on Newhaven Town Council from 2019 to 2023. He was deputy leader of Lewes District Council from 2019 to 2020 and again from 2021 to 2022, and leader of the council from 2020 to 2021 and 2022 to 2023.

MacCleary has served as a councillor on East Sussex County Council since 2021.

MacCleary previously contested the Tunbridge Wells constituency for the Liberal Democrats at the 2015 general election.

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.”

MacCleary was endorsed by local groups of the cross-party organisation Compass during the 2024 general election. Compass is a thinktank and campaign group. As part of its “Win as One” campaign in the 2024 election, local Compass groups backed a slate of progressive candidates who had pledged their support for electoral reform. The central aim of the initiative was to elect a “caucus” of MPs who would champion the cause of replacing the first past the post electoral system.

MacCleary is listed as a supporter 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 May 2026, MacCleary 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.”

In December 2024, MacCleary 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, MacCleary 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

MacCleary 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): MacCleary 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.

Palestine

Palestinian recognition letter (July 2025): In July 2025, MacCleary was among the over 254 MPs to sign a cross-party letter calling for the government to immediately recognise the state of Palestine. The letter called on the prime minister and foreign secretary to recognise Palestine at the UN Conference then taking place in New York.

Before Politics

MacCleary studied politics and international relations at the University of Kent, graduating in 2022. He subsequently obtained a master’s in Russian and East European studies in 2004.

MacCleary has held a series of campaign and advocacy roles, including at the RSPCA and the European Movement UK. He was campaign director of the European Movement UK from 2017 to 2019.

Personal Life

MacCleary lives in Newhaven, East Sussex, with his young family.

Trivia

MacCleary serves as both a member of parliament and a councillor.