'When we're all together in the Chamber we're actually very loud': Lib Dem Liz Jarvis
6 min read
With a career in journalism behind her, Liberal Democrat MP for Eastleigh Liz Jarvis tells Sophie Church why Labour’s failure to listen to the public could prove costly
“I was in that place that so many are, where you're worried about how you're going to pay the mortgage and how you're going to keep a roof over your family's head. I was skipping meals so I could make sure my son could eat; I understand what it is like living hand to mouth.”
Unlike many MPs, Liz Jarvis, the Liberal Democrat MP for Eastleigh, can fully relate to those struggling with the cost-of-living crisis.
A journalist by trade, she started her career writing for The Daily Mirror and Time Out. At the age of 26 Jarvis gave birth to a son, and 18 months later became a single parent.
“I remember one night I got a call from the news editor to do a story, and I had my son's dummies in a saucepan sterilising,” she says. “He was so long on the phone to me the pan caught fire. And I thought, ‘I can't be the best newspaper journalist that I can as well as raising a baby.’”
Jarvis moved into editing magazines in search of better work hours, whilst still writing. But when the recession hit, she lost the contract she had been working on.
“It was a really grim time, because there was just no work anywhere during that period,” she says. “It was just very, very difficult.”
When we're all together in the Chamber and you hear us, we're actually very loud
Forced to diversify, Jarvis started blogging. “It became one of the most successful mum blogs in the UK, which was amazing,” she says. “I got lots of opportunities from that, and work. I also became an ambassador for Xbox and Disney, which was fantastic.”
“The only time my son's ever really liked me is when I was an ambassador for Xbox!” she jokes.
Having nearly lost her home, Jarvis was determined to give back. This led her to Home-Start UK, a charity supporting families through challenging times. Realising she could do more still, she decided to go into politics.
Having become disillusioned with Labour during the Iraq War and Brexit, Jarvis was struck by the Liberal Democrat belief that “no one should be enslaved by poverty, conformity or ignorance”, and joined the party.
Jarvis ran unsuccessfully for Southampton Itchen in the 2019 general election, before being elected to Eastleigh Borough Council in 2022, a position she still holds. She was elected the MP for Eastleigh – where Lib Dem MP Chris Huhne’s perversion of justice prompted a famous by-election in 2013 – this year.
“One of the biggest moments for me when I got elected was getting a lovely card from Emmeline Pankhurst’s great-granddaughter, saying, ‘congratulations, you are the 657th woman to be elected’,” she says proudly.
Now settled into the rhythm of parliamentary life, does she think the 72-strong Lib Dem cohort is making as big an impact as she hoped?
“We're making a huge impact,” she says. “When we're all together in the Chamber and you hear us, we're actually very loud.”
She points to the surprise passing at first reading of the Proportional Representation (PR) Bill – put forward by Richmond Park Lib Dem MP Sarah Olney – as evidence of this impact.
“It's just amazing. It's absolutely the best thing. Because obviously, proportional representation is such a key thing for us.”
But with Starmer quickly speaking out against the policy – despite nearly 60 of his MPs supporting it – is it frustrating there often seems a limit to what Lib Dems can achieve?
“It is, but it’s early days,” she says. “It's got its Second Reading in January, so we'll see what happens.”
We don't all sit around talking about days gone by
Jarvis has not always sung the praises of the Lib Dems. In 2019, she wrote in an Independent article feeling “utterly betrayed” by the party for forming a Coalition government with the Conservatives. But now, having been on a “political journey”, she says she understands the goal is “to be in a situation where you can have some impact on people's lives”.
“That's what it's all about, right? It's about making people's lives better, doing better for your constituents. So if there is the opportunity to have the power to do that, or it seems that you might be getting the power to do that, I think you probably would take it.”
But Jarvis laughs at the notion the Lib Dems continue to discuss the Coalition years in private. “There's too much else going on. We don't all sit around talking about days gone by,” she says.
Looking forward, Jarvis hopes to explore how the media could be better regulated in her position on the Culture, Media and Sport committee. Having worked in journalism, she is deeply concerned by its direction of travel.
“What worries me about the industry the most is that at the moment it doesn't seem to be able to work out how to make a profit from digital,” she says. “If you look at what's happening with newspapers where they're going behind a paywall, that's actually driving people away, because the way they do it is so clunky and so difficult to penetrate.”
As traditional print media falls from fashion, and turning a profit from digital becomes more challenging, media companies have been forced to make cuts. Last year, for instance, Reach PLC – which published the Daily Mirror, announced 450 redundancies, with chief executive officer Jim Mullen blaming the “economic environment”.
In Reach’s case, print revenues suffered a 3 per cent year-on-year decline in the first half of 2023, with a 16 per cent drop for digital revenues.
Jarvis, who remembers being locked out of the Daily Mirror offices after the news of owner Robert Maxwell’s death, says: “Ultimately, you've got too few media owners – the people actually wanting to invest in newspapers and magazines… it's very, very difficult if people are not consuming it in that way anymore.”
The skills Jarvis gained through journalism stood her in good stead for a career in politics. “It taught me I could talk to anyone about their experiences."
Now an MP, she says: “I talk to people on doorsteps all the time, and there’s a couple who have really stayed with me. I knocked on their door, they opened it and said, ‘Oh, we're a bit cold.’ I looked at them and their hands were turning blue; they were too afraid to put the heaters on.
“I said, ‘Have you got something warm to eat?’ They were just cooking off of one ring because they were afraid of turning on the oven because it was too expensive.”
“The mistake politicians often make is that they don't spend time talking to their constituents and listening to them and hearing what they're saying. That's something that I believe very strongly that you should do.”
Between health and social care, the cost-of-living crisis, Southern Water and sewage, Jarvis has some pointed advice for the government: “What they need to do is start listening to people.”
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