John Leech

John Leech entered Parliament at the first attempt in 2005 when he was elected to represent Manchester Withington constituency, defeating the previous Labour incumbent with a swing of over 17%.

As well as being a member of the transport select committee - on which he has served since his election - John has been a Lib Dem transport spokesman since 2006.

Prior to becoming an MP, John worked for both McDonalds as a trainee manager and the RAC and served for ten years as a member of Manchester City Council where he was Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrat group and group spokesperson on Planning and the Environment. Alongside transport, planning remains one of John's primary areas of interest.

John is a passionate campaigner for improved road safety and has led calls for the default speed limit on local roads to be reduced from 30mph to 20mph. For his work in this field he was named 'Parliamentarian of the Year for Road Safety' by road safety charity Brake in 2008. He has also been working for improved cancer services in south Manchester in his capacity as a 'parliamentary champion' of the UK Lung Cancer Coalition. Locally, he has been particularly vocal in his opposition to the closure of local post offices, in the fight to save local special needs schools from closure and efforts to improve access to allotments.

In the wake of the Icelandic banking collapse in 2009, John presented a 100,000 signature-strong petition to Parliament. The petition, organised by the Manchester Evening News, called for a return of the £6.5m that Manchester cancer hospital, The Christie, had lost in the financial collapse. Thanks to the petition and a subsequent delegation visit to Downing Street, in which John took part, the government's hand was forced and the money was recouped.

A keen sportsman, John is a member of the parliamentary football team and has been a Manchester City season ticket holder for over 20 years. He is also an amateur dramatics enthusiast.