The Right Honourable
The Lord Scriven
Official portrait, 2022
Leader of Sheffield City Council
In office
2008–2011
Preceded byJan Wilson
Succeeded byJulie Dore
Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
Assumed office
19 September 2014
Life Peerage
Personal details
Born (1966-02-07) 7 February 1966
Political partyLiberal Democrats
Spouse
Dr David Black
​
(m. 2017)​

Paul James Scriven, Baron Scriven (born 7 February 1966) is a Liberal Democrat politician and former Leader of Sheffield City Council (2008–11), who was once described as Nick Clegg's "closest ally in local government".[1]

Early and professional life

Scriven was raised on a council estate in Huddersfield, West Riding of Yorkshire.[2] He was educated at Rawthorpe High School, Huddersfield, but after working for two years for a road construction firm, he returned to education at 18 to study his O and A Levels at Huddersfield Technical College. He attended Manchester Polytechnic (now Manchester Metropolitan University) to read for a BA. From 1989 to 1990 he was president of its Students union.

He started his working life 'fast tracked' as a graduate trainee in the National Health Service. He worked at a number of hospitals in the UK and later for a number of private companies. He now is managing director for a consultancy and leadership development company Halado Leadership, working mainly with public bodies in southern Africa and South East Asia.

In 2020 Scriven was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Manchester Metropolitan University for his services to public sector reform and international LGBT asylum issues. Scriven undertook to support the university's first generation programme of supporting more people to go the university from households with a history of family members not entering higher education.

Political career

Scriven was elected to Sheffield City Council in May 2000 for the Broomhill ward and became Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group in 2002.[3] He then became Leader of the Council in 2008, following the local elections which saw the Liberal Democrats take control of Sheffield City Council.[4]

At the 2010 general election, he was the Liberal Democrat candidate for the Sheffield Central constituency, losing to Labour's Paul Blomfield by just 165 votes.[5]

Following the 2010 election, Scriven remained as Leader of the Council and, in November of that year, he received a Leader Award from the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, awarded annually to "recognise... the work of outstanding local and regional liberal and democrat politicians".[6]

In April 2011, The Guardian newspaper described Scriven as the "closest ally in local government" to Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg MP. In the article, he discussed the coalition government's decision to "front-load" local government spending cuts and claimed it was right to do so, saying it might not have been better to even out the reductions across four years.[1]

In the May 2011 local elections, Labour regained control of the Council and Scriven resigned as Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group.[7] A year later in the 2012 elections, Scriven lost his Broomhill seat.[8]

On 8 August 2014 it was announced that Scriven had been appointed as a Liberal Democrat life peer.[9] He was made the Baron Scriven of Hunters Bar in the City of Sheffield on 23 September 2014.[10] During his time in the Lords Scriven has worked on issues around human rights abuses in Bahrain, improving the immigration system especially for LGBT+ applicants, campaigning for a federal UK through the regions via radical devolution, local government reform as well highlighting civil liberties issues related to technology and IT.

Scriven was joint acting Liberal Democrat frontbench spokesperson for Health in the Lords during 2020 at the start of the Coronavirus pandemic. He advocated for an equal partnership between local and national government that he said was vital to deal with public health issues that would arise. He also called for a locally led test and trace system along with realistic support for those who are required to self isolate. Scriven was outspoken in pursuit of holding Conservative Ministers to account for the cronyism in awarding of contracts during the pandemic via the "fast track" channel.

During the 2015 general election campaign, Lord Scriven made media headlines when he claimed on Twitter that Cameron had privately told Clegg that he did not believe the Conservatives would win a majority in a conversation before the election campaign.[11] In the end, the Conservatives won a surprise majority.

In May 2016, Scriven was again elected onto Sheffield City Council, for the Ecclesall Ward.[12] He announced that he would not be seeking re-election to the Council when his term ended in May 2019.[13]

Lord Scriven made history in July 2017 by becoming the first male in the modern House of Lords, other than clergymen, to speak without a tie in a debate.[14]

Personal life

In June 2017, Scriven married his partner of twenty two years, Dr. David Black,[15][16] who is the Medical Director of Sheffield Teaching Hospitals.[17]

References

  1. 1 2 "Nick Clegg ally admits scale of spending cuts may turn Sheffield council red". The Guardian. 18 April 2011.
  2. ↑ "Lib Dems chief pledges more power to the people". Sheffield Telegraph. 29 April 2008.
  3. ↑ "Scriven quits: Former council chief gives up Sheffield Lib Dems leadership after poll disaster". Sheffield Star. 10 May 2011.
  4. ↑ "ELECTIONS 'O8: Lib-Dems ready for new era". Sheffield Star. 3 May 2008.
  5. ↑ "UK > England > Yorkshire & the Humber > Sheffield Central". Election 2010. BBC. 7 May 2010. Retrieved 11 May 2010.
  6. ↑ "Lib Dem leader of Sheffield Council wins top European honour". Lib Dem Voice. 16 November 2010. Archived from the original on 19 November 2010. Retrieved 21 November 2010.
  7. ↑ "Three-year 'revolution' ends". The Sheffield Telegraph. Retrieved 30 July 2017.
  8. ↑ "Sheffield City Council - Broomhill Ward 2012 Local Election Result". Archived from the original on 1 September 2012.
  9. ↑ "Karren Brady and Sir Stuart Rose among new life peers". BBC News. BBC. 8 August 2014. Retrieved 8 August 2014.
  10. ↑ "No. 60998". The London Gazette. 25 September 2014. p. 18642.
  11. ↑ "Lord Scriven defends 'no majority' tweet". BBC News. BBC. 4 May 2015. Retrieved 5 May 2015.
  12. ↑ "Sheffield City Council - Ecclesall ward local election result 2016". Archived from the original on 3 June 2016.
  13. ↑ "Former Council Leader bids farewell to Sheffield politics". 20 March 2019.
  14. ↑ Hope, Christopher (20 July 2017). "Tieless LibDem peer leads 'quiet revolution' in the Lords, saying 'No one objected or made a scene'". The Telegraph. Retrieved 30 July 2017.
  15. ↑ Scriven, Paul [@Paulscriven] (24 June 2017). "I give you you my husband Mr David Black!" (Tweet). Retrieved 2 February 2019 – via Twitter.
  16. ↑ Lord Scriven (1 February 2019). "Civil Partnerships, Marriages and Deaths (Registration Etc.) Bill". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). United Kingdom: House of Lords. col. 1300–1301.
  17. ↑ "Organisational structure". www.sth.nhs.uk. Sheffield Teaching Hospital. Retrieved 12 October 2023.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.