Meral Hussein-Ece

Baroness Hussein Ece was raised to the peerage as Baroness Hussein-Ece of Highbury in  2010 for the Liberal Democrats.

Baroness Ece has had a long career in local government, and then went to work as a senior manager in the National Health Service, including as chief officer for Haringey Community Health Council.

She was elected councillor in the London Borough of Hackney for Clissold Ward in 1994. She was then elected councillor for Dalston Ward in 1998.

She was the first woman from a Turkish/Cypriot background elected to public office in the UK, when she was Deputy Leader of Hackney Council, 1995-6. Ece joined the Liberal Democrats in 1997, and stood in Hackney North & Stoke Newington, at the 2001 general election. Ece has a very high profile within the large Turkish speaking community in London.

She was councillor for Mildmay Ward in Islington from 2002 to 2010 when she stood down. She was the Cabinet Member for Health & Social Care 2002-06, Chair of the Islington Health Partnership Board and served on Islington Primary Care Trust Board 2002-06, and was non-executive director of Camden & Islington Mental Health & Social Care Trust.

She was the Chair of the Overview & Scrutiny Committee, 2007-9. In November, 2009, Ece was appointed as a Commissioner to the Equality and Human Rights Commission. In May 2008 Baroness Hussain-Ece was appointed by the Minister for Equalities, Harriet Harman MP to serve on the Government’s Task Force to increase the numbers of ethnic minority women councillors in the UK.

She was awarded the OBE in the Queens New Year Honours 2009, for services to local government.

She is a former Chair of the Ethnic Minority Liberal Democrats, and is a member of the Liberal Democrats Federal Executive Committee, and advises Lib Dems Leader Nick Clegg MP on community cohesion and minority ethnic communities.

Baroness Hussein-Ece is currently a member of the Soft Power Committee in the House of Lords. 

Contact:

House of Lords, London, SW1A 0PW
Tel: 020 7219 5353

E-mail: info@equalityhumanrights.com

4000
3000