Eleanor Fulton Laing, Baroness Laing of Elderslie, (née Pritchard; born 1 February 1958), is a British Conservative Party politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Epping Forest from 1997 to 2024. She served in the shadow cabinets of Michael Howard and David Cameron. From 2013 to 2024, Laing was a Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons and was the first female Chairman of Ways and Means from 2020 to 2024. She had one of the longest tenures in the Speaker's chair. She became a member of the House of Lords in 2024.
Laing stood down from the House of Commons at the 2024 general election and was appointed to the House of Lords.
Eleanor Pritchard was born on 1 February 1958 in Paisley, Renfrewshire, and raised in the nearby village of Elderslie, where her father was a councillor. She was privately educated at St Columba's School, an independent school. Laing graduated from University of Edinburgh with Master of Arts and Bachelor of Laws degrees. She was the first female President of the University of Edinburgh Students' Association. She worked as a solicitor in Edinburgh and the City of London.
At the 1987 general election, Laing stood as the Conservative candidate in Paisley North, coming second with 15.8% of the vote behind the Labour incumbent Allen Adams.
In 1995, she sought selection for Southend West, but was narrowly defeated in the selection process by David Amess, the sitting MP for Basildon.
At the 1997 general election, Laing was elected to Parliament as MP for Epping Forest with 45.5% of the vote and a majority of 5,252.
Following the election, she was selected for the Education Select Committee, chaired by Labour's Margaret Hodge. Once in Parliament, Laing signed up to the Eurosceptic wing of the party, first supporting Michael Howard then William Hague for the Conservative leadership.
Laing sponsored the motion for lowering the homosexual age of consent to 16 in June 1998, saying in Parliament that: "Nothing that is being proposed tonight is in any way encouraging physical sexual activity among young people before they are sufficiently mature. It is nonsense to say that there cannot be equality between 16-year-old boys and 16-year-old girls. Young people need protection, but young people are not protected by being made into criminals". Labour MPs paid tribute for Laing for speaking against the majority view of the then Parliamentary Conservative Party, of whom 110 of their 165 MPs voted against the measure.
She has been an opponent of devolution, and criticised the Blair government on many of the details of the transfer of power. In December 2000, she was appointed as opposition Scottish spokeswoman.
At the 2001 general election, Laing was re-elected as MP for Epping Forest with an increased vote share of 49.1% and an increased majority of 8,426.
Laing voted against the repeal of Section 28 in 2003.
Laing first entered the shadow cabinet in 2004 as Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities under the leadership of Michael Howard, after previously serving as Shadow Minister of Children from June to November 2003. Whilst continuing in this role, Laing became Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland, serving briefly from May 2005, shortly after the 2005 general election, to December 2005 when David Cameron came to power as Leader of the Opposition.
Laing was again re-elected at the 2005 general election with an increased vote share of 53% and an increased majority of 14,358.
Laing continued as Shadow Women and Equalities Minister until a July 2007 reshuffle, when she became Shadow Minister for Justice, a role she remained in until the 2010 general election.
At the 2010 general election, Laing was again re-elected, with an increased vote share of 54% and an increased majority of 15,131. After the election, and the formation of the Cameron–Clegg coalition, Laing did not receive a government post, thus returning to the backbenches.
In 2012, Laing voted against the third reading of the proposed House of Lords Reform Bill 2012, and opposed a referendum on Scottish independence. She also spoke in favour of a referendum on the United Kingdom's membership of the European Union, and paid tribute to Margaret Thatcher and her legacy during a Commons session dedicated to tributes to the late former Prime Minister, which took place shortly after her death.
Laing criticised the manner in which the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013 was introduced by arguing "social change should come about by evolution, not by diktat from the top of government" and subsequently abstained from voting on it.
In May 2013, the First Deputy Chairman of Ways and Means, Nigel Evans, was arrested on suspicion of rape and sexual assault. He was acquitted of those charges, but resigned from his position in the chair on 10 September 2013. On 16 October, Laing was elected to succeed Evans as the First Deputy Chair, the holder of which post is one of the Deputy Speakers of the House.