FORMER Redditch MP Rachel Maclean has joined the House of Lords.
She was one of six people nominated by the Leader of the Opposition, Kemi Badenoch, to receive a Peerage of the United Kingdom for life.
Mrs Maclean will sit in the House of Lords as Baroness Maclean of Redditch.
This announcement means the former MP will not be standing again to be the Member of Parliament for the town at the next election.
Mrs Maclean served as the Member of Parliament from 2017 until 2024 and, during that time, held the post of Housing and Planning Minister, as well as a Minister in the Department for Transport, Home Office and the Ministry of Justice.
She said: “I am over the moon to have joined the House of Lords and I look forward to playing my part to renew and rebuild the Conservative Party.
“I am grateful to Kemi Badenoch for including me in her first appointments to the House of Lords.
“I owe Redditch everything and so I will be taking the title of Baroness Maclean of Redditch.
“It was the honour of my life to be the Member of Parliament for Redditch for seven years, but joining the House of Lords does mean I will not be standing again to be the MP at the next election.
“I will be forever proud of everything we achieved together during my time as the MP, but now I feel is the time to pass the baton on.
“I look forward to supporting whoever becomes the next Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for Redditch and the villages and doing everything I can to ensure they’re elected as our MP at the next election.”
