Alan Beith in Parliament

Alan Beith has represented the Berwick-upon-Tweed Constituency in Parliament since 1973. At the end of the last Parliament he was the longest serving Liberal Democrat MP in Westminster. He is fighting the 2010 General Election and hopes to continue representing the area for many years.

In the last Parliament he was Chairman of the Justice Committee of the House of Commons. The Justice Committee is appointed by the House of Commons to examine the administration, expenditure and policy of the Ministry of Justice. The Committee also examines the work of the Attorney General, Solicitor General and the Treasury Solicitor's Department, the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). The Justice Committee also scrutinises draft Sentencing Guidelines issued under the authority of the Sentencing Guidelines Council

As Chairman of the Justice Committee, Alan led enquiries into the role of prison officers, as well as the work of the Crown Prosecution Service. In May 2009 the Committee published its report following an examination of the impact of devolution in the United Kingdom, "Devolution: A Decade On".

Alan Beith was made a Privy Counsellor in 1992, and served as Deputy Chairman of the Committee of Privy Counsellors to review the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001 and the Privy Council Review of the use of telephone intercept as evidence in prosecutions (2007) and served on the Advisory Group on the implementation of its proposals.