Layla Moran has revealed she plans to run for leadership of the Liberal Democrats, saying the party needs to “move on from the last decade”.



The former teacher, who has been an MP since 2017, would mark a break from the party’s years in coalition with the Tories from 2010 to 2015.

Speaking on Sky’s Ridge on Sunday, the MP for Oxford West and Abingdon said she would put climate change and electoral reform at the heart of her agenda.

“I want to lead and empower the Liberal Democrats to fight for this future and to grow our support, so that we can make people’s lives better. I want the party to be in a position to win power within a generation, so that we can bring about the change our country so desperately needs,” she said.

Moran, who recently came out as pansexual, has previously been critical of former leader Jo Swinson, saying the 2019 election campaign was “arrogant”.

She had been expected to run for the leadership in 2019 but withdrew after it emerged she had slapped her then boyfriend in 2013 at the party’s conference.

Her rivals are likely to include Ed Davey, the former energy secretary, who is currently acting leader and lost out to Swinson in 2019. The first candidate to declare was Wera Hobhouse, the MP for Bath since 2017, who entered the race saying she wanted a “clean break” with the coalition era.

Other potential candidates include Daisy Cooper, the St Albans MP, who has only been an MP since December.