Steve Comer is a former leader of the Liberal Democrats on

Bristol City Council Bristol City Council is the local authority for the city of Bristol, in South West England. Bristol has had a council from medieval times, which has been reformed on numerous occasions. Since 1996 the council has been a unitary authority, being ...

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. He was Councillor for Eastville ward from 2005 to 2013, having previously served as Councillor for the adjacent Easton ward (1983-7). He lost by a single vote to a Labour candidate in 2013.

Background

Comer was born in Bristol, but has lived in a number of places, mostly in the south west of the UK. He is employed as a civil servant, and first became active in politics as a teenager, joining the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...

at 18. Comer is an active trade unionist, and is a member of the PCS Democrats group, formerly on the national executive of the PCS Union, to which he was first elected in 2000. He has been a union representative at local, regional and national level since 1989 in a variety of negotiating posts.

Politics

At the 2005 elections, the

Liberal Democrat Several political parties from around the world have been called the Liberal Democratic Party, Democratic Liberal Party or Liberal Democrats. These parties have usually followed liberalism as ideology, although they can vary widely from very progr ...

party became the largest party and took minority control of the Council. Comer joined the new cabinet team on the council, and was elected deputy leader in 2006. In May 2007 he replaced

Barbara Janke Barbara Lilian Janke, Baroness Janke (born 5 June 1947) is a British former teacher and politician. She was the Liberal Democrat leader of Bristol City Council from 2005 to 2007 and from 2009 to 2012. She was first elected councillor for Clifton ...

as leader of the party, and was expected to become leader of the Council but was blocked by a combined Conservative and Labour vote, who installed a Labour leader instead. At a Council meeting in May 2007 Comer proposed the establishment of a select committee on prostitution. Labour and the Conservatives blocked the proposal, saying the council lacked the funding or the staff who could be dedicated solely to such a specific problem. In 2013 Comer lost by a single vote in a very close election that saw the Labour Party complain that he was being racist in pointing out that the Labour candidate was from Scotland and had no connection with Eastville.

References

External links

Bristol City CouncilBristol Liberal Democrats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Comer, Steve Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Liberal Democrats (UK) councillors Councillors in Bristol Trade unionists from Bristol