| Caroline Voaden | |
| Party: | Liberal Democrats |
| Office: | Member of Parliament for South Devon |
| Term Start: | 4 July 2024 |
| Predecessor: | Constituency re-established |
| Majority: | 7,127 (10.1%) |
| Office2: | Leader of the Liberal Democrats in the European Parliament |
| Term Start2: | 12 November 2019 |
| Term End2: | 31 January 2020 |
| Leader2: | Jo Swinson Sir Ed Davey and Brinton/Pack (interim) |
| Deputy2: | Luisa Porritt |
| Predecessor2: | Catherine Bearder |
| Successor2: | Position abolished |
| Constituency Mp1: | South West England |
| Term Start1: | 2 July 2019[1] [2] |
| Term End1: | 31 January 2020 |
| Predecessor1: | Julie Girling |
| Successor1: | Constituency abolished |
| Parliament1: | European |
| Birth Date: | 22 November 1968 |
| Birth Place: | Wantage, Oxfordshire, England |
| Nationality: | British |
| Alma Mater: | University of Sheffield |
| Profession: | Journalist |
Caroline Jane Voaden (born 22 November 1968) is a British politician and international journalist, who has served as Member of Parliament for South Devon since 2024 for the Liberal Democrats, having previously served as the party's leader in the European Parliament from 2019 to 2020, and was a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the South West England and Gibraltar constituency from 2019 to 2020.[3]
Voaden has covered six European countries in her capacity as a journalist.[4] Whilst covering the latter years of the Yugoslav Wars in Zagreb, she made history as the youngest female bureau chief at Reuters.[5]
Caroline Voaden was born in Wantage in Berkshire (now Oxfordshire), on 22 November 1968, and grew up in Scotland. She studied French and Economics at Sheffield, with a year abroad living in Lille.[6] In 2012, after being widowed at the age of 34, Voaden moved to Devon with her two young daughters. She married again and has a stepson.
From 1991 to 2000, Voaden worked for the Reuters news agency, undergoing assignments in Amsterdam, Dublin, Bonn, Belgrade and Zagreb.[7]
In 2007, she moved to Devon, where she founded her own modern craft brand in 2012. In 2018 she became operations manager at a resettlement charity working with offenders and prisoners from HM Prison Channings Wood.
Voaden was chair of the national WAY Foundation from 2009 to 2011, a charity that supports men and women widowed under the age of 50.
From 2000 to 2007, she served in the team which established JustGiving, as an online editor for the charitable social platform.
From November 2021 to May 2023 she was the chief executive of Devon Rape Crisis & Sexual Abuse Services.[8]
Voaden joined the Liberal Democrats the day after the Brexit referendum in 2016, seeking to oppose Brexit and campaign for a second referendum on EU membership.[9]
In 2019, Voaden was elected as Member of the European Parliament for the South West of England constituency, having campaigned on a platform of stopping Brexit and fighting climate change.[10]
She sat as a full member of the European Parliament Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety, a substitute member of the Committee on Transport and Tourism and the Vice-President of the European Parliament's delegation for relations with the Arabian Peninsula.[11]
Following criticism of BBC television's Question Time for having never featured a pro-Remain MEP,[12] Voaden was the first pro-European MEP to feature, in October 2019.[13]
In November 2019, Catherine Bearder announced, that she would be stepping down as the leader of the Liberal Democrats in the European Parliament. Voaden was subsequently elected as the leader of the European party.[14] [15]
She was a member of the Renew Europe group in the European Parliament.[16] Her name was removed after Brexit.
She stood against Gary Streeter as the Liberal Democrat candidate for the constituency in the 2017 General Election, coming third with 5.2% of the vote.[17]
In 2024, she won the "South Devon Primary" to be the Liberal Democrat candidate in the South Devon constituency.[18] In the 2024 general election, she was elected Member of Parliament (MP) for South Devon with 22,540 votes (46.0%) and a majority of 7,127 over the second place Conservative candidate.[19] The constituency had last been in use in 1885.