Luciana Berger

Luciana Berger
Official portrait, 2017
Member of Parliament for Liverpool Wavertree
In office 6 May 2010 – 6 November 2019
Preceded by	Jane Kennedy
Succeeded by	Paula Barker
Shadow portfolios 2015–2016 Mental Health[a] 2013–2015 Public Health 2010–2013 Climate Change
Personal details
Born	Luciana Clare Berger (1981-05-13) 13 May 1981 (age 43) London, England
Political party	Labour Co-op (before 2019, 2023–present)
Other political affiliations	Parliamentary affiliation: The Independents[1] (2019) Party membership: Independent (2019) Change UK (2019) Liberal Democrats (2019–2023)
Spouse	Alistair Goldsmith ​ (m. 2015)​
Alma mater	University of Birmingham Birkbeck, University of London
Other offices October–December 2019: Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Health, Wellbeing and Social Care March–June 2019: Change UK Spokesperson for Home Affairs, Health, Digital and Culture

Luciana Clare Berger (/ˈbɜːrdʒər/;^[2] born 13 May 1981) is a British politician who served as Member of Parliament for Liverpool Wavertree from 2010 to 2019. A member of the Labour and Co-operative parties, she was a founding member of The Independent Group, later Change UK, before joining the Liberal Democrats. Berger rejoined Labour in 2023.

Born in London, Berger attained degrees at the University of Birmingham and Birkbeck, University of London. She served as a National Executive Committee member of the National Union of Students, but resigned to protest against what she considered the committee's apathy towards antisemitism. Berger also joined Labour and served as director of Labour Friends of Israel. Selected as Labour candidate for Liverpool Wavertree—her selection attracted criticism for its centrally imposed all-women shortlist—she was then elected to Parliament in the 2010 general election.

As an MP, Berger joined the Official Opposition frontbench under Ed Miliband's Labour leadership; first as Shadow Minister for Climate Change from 2010 to 2013 and later as Shadow Minister for Public Health from 2013 to 2015. As a backbencher, she campaigned against dangerous dogs and their owners, food poverty and loopholes allowing companies to avoid their health and safety responsibilities. She was re-elected in the 2015 and 2017 general elections.

Following Jeremy Corbyn's election as Labour leader in September 2015, Berger was appointed to the Shadow Cabinet as the first Shadow Minister for Mental Health. However, she was critical of Corbyn and resigned in June 2016. In February 2019, members of her local party briefly proposed motions of no confidence in her for "continually" criticising Corbyn. Later that month, she joined other former Labour and Conservative MPs in forming Change UK, but left this group in June 2019 to sit as an Independent MP, before joining the Liberal Democrats in September 2019. She stood unsuccessfully for Finchley and Golders Green in the 2019 general election.

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