| Honorific Prefix: | Councillor |
| Liz Jarvis | |
| Parliament: | United Kingdom |
| Constituency Mp: | Eastleigh |
| Term Start: | 4 July 2024 |
| Predecessor: | Paul Holmes |
| Majority: | 1,546 (3.3%) |
| Alma Mater: | University of Essex |
| Party: | Liberal Democrats |
Elizabeth Jarvis is a British Liberal Democrat politician who has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Eastleigh since 2024, gaining the seat from the Conservatives. She has also been a councillor for Hamble and Netley on Eastleigh Borough Council since 2022.
Jarvis's mother Eileen was of Irish descent. A secretary when Liz was born, she later studied and gained an Open University degree to become a social worker. Liz's father Harry was a shipping fleet personnel officer from Hampshire who had served in the British Army in the Middle East. Her mother was a member of the Labour Party and her father voted Conservative. Jarvis has said that politics was discussed at every meal and she was taken on her first march by her mother as a toddler.[1] She and her younger sister also helped their mother volunteer at women's refuges. Her father, Harry, died suddenly before Jarvis was 21,[2] and her mother, Eileen, died aged 92 in March 2024[3] after a seven-year struggle with Alzheimer's.
The first in her family to go to university, Jarvis graduated from the University of Essex in 1989 with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in American literature.[4]
Jarvis began her career in journalism on national newspapers and had a national newspaper column by the time she was 25. She went on to work on magazines, editing three, while continuing to contribute to newspapers, including working with Southampton's cruise industry. She was the editor of Cruise International magazine for eight years (2012-2020).[5]
Jarvis joined the Liberal Democrats in 2018.[6] She stood in Southampton Itchen in the 2019 general election, coming third with 5.3% of the vote when the seat was won by Conservative Royston Smith with a narrow majority over Labour.[7] In 2022 she was elected as an Eastleigh Borough Councillor for the Hamble and Netley ward, with a majority of over 1000.[8]
In the 2024 general election she was elected as the Liberal Democrat MP for Eastleigh,[9] winning the seat back from the Conservatives for the first time since 2015 and overturning a notional majority of 8,641 (calculated as the likely outcome of the 2019 election on the 2024 boundaries).[10] She had a majority of 1,546 (3.3%) over the Conservative candidate; there were six candidates and a turnout of 66%.[11]
Jarvis has a son who she raised as a single parent since he was aged 18 months.[12] She lives in Eastleigh. From 2019 to 2023 she was a trustee of Home-Start Westminster, a charity supporting families in London.[13]