Cllr Mike Bell
North Somerset councillor for Weston Central, campaigning for Weston-super-Mare and the villages
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About Mike Bell
Mike was born in the old Weston General Hospital in 1973 and lives with his wife Clare and son Jake in George Street in the heart of the town. Mike has lived all his life in Weston and the surrounding area including Worle, Milton, Locking village and Locking Castle. He attended local schools.
Mike works as a magazine editor for a small Weston-based publisher. He has previously been a development manager for business charity Young Enterprise, spent five years working for former Weston MP Brian Cotter and has worked as a campaigns manager for South West Euro MP Graham Watson.
Mike was the founding chairman of Weston's 'Flower Power' committee, has been a director of the Town Centre Company and has been an active member of Weston Tourism and a primary school governor.
Mike's Experience
Mike cut his political teeth as a member of the Young Liberal Democrats and was chairman of the Western Counties Liberal Democrat Youth & Students and served on the national executive.
In 2000, Mike was elected as a member of the newly formed Weston-super-Mare Town Council. He was re-elected in 2003 and became political leader of the Town Council in that year.
In 2001, Mike was elected as the youngest councillor to North Somerset Council, winning the formerly safest Conservative seat in the constituency in the process. He was re-elected with an increased majority in 2003. During his six years as a North Somerset Councillor Mike has held a number of positions. From October 2005 to May 2007, he was the council's executive member for finance and performance, responsible for overseeing the council's £200 million revenue budget.
Mike was the Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate for the Woodspring Constituency at the General Election in 2005. He achieved the best swing from the Conservatives to the Liberal Democrats in the South West and moved the party from third place to second in the seat.
In May 2010, Mike contested his hometown Parliamentary seat of Weston-super-Mare. He increased the Lib Dem vote by nearly 3,000 voters to 20,665 - the highest level since 1997.