Huw Merriman

Huw Merriman has been Conservative MP for Bexhill and Battle since 2015. A qualified barrister and a former member of Wealden district council, Merriman served as parliamentary private secretary to the then chancellor Philip Hammond from 2017 to 2018 and sat on the Procedure Committee in the 2015-17 parliament. In the run-up to the 2016 EU referendum, Merriman organised a series of debates in his constituency, only later revealing his vote for Remain. Since then, he has supported the withdrawal agreement between the government and the EU but, significantly, argued for a confirmatory referendum on the deal, in order to protect the withdrawal agreement from being “watered down” by a potential parliamentary deadlock on the issue. Merriman’s parliamentary career has centred around Brexit and, on the Today programme, he described it as “the issue of our times”. Despite his brief vacation from the party line on Brexit, Merriman was able to increase his already comfortable majority by some 7% in 2019, winning by 26,059 and gaining 64% of all votes cast. Merriman currently chairs the Transport Committee and sits on the Liaison Committee.