Liberal Democrat mayor Hannah Kitching is to join the House of Lords as one of five new peers nominated by the party. The appointment gives the former Barnsley councillor a national parliamentary role and adds to the Liberal Democrats’ representation in the unelected upper chamber, where peers scrutinise legislation and hold the government to account.

Kitching is Town Mayor of Penistone, chairs the Yorkshire Liberal Democrats and previously worked as an NHS physiotherapist. She joined the party after the 2016 Brexit vote, was elected to Barnsley Council in 2018, and became the leader of the Liberal Democrat group there; the other new Lib Dem peers are Julia Aglionby, Tim Leunig, Dave McCobb and Mark Petterson.