Our Parliamentary Team

Mark lives in Heaton and has a track record of actively fighting for Newcastle East. Have a read below to see learn about him and what he stands for:

Actively supporting our Community

Bringing the Community together - Mark has led or be on the core team on for Heaton Festival since its inception in 2011. This massive community event brings over 10,000 locals and 200 community groups together to build community and support eack other.

A local Football coach - Mark coached Heaton Hawks youth football team for 5 years and now coaches (and plays a little!) in an adult team across the North East

Treasurer for several organisations - Mark has been the treasurer of 3 groups doing the behind the scenes work to keep some brilliant organisations running.

Why Mark is different

A local who is committed to the area - Mark has been in Heaton since 1995 and has seen his family grow up in the local schools and with the local activities

Knows what it takes to get things done - Mark is a Director in Research and Development at Procter and Gamble where he has led the global development of new products, factory designs as well as global data and IT systems

Experience in making partnerships work - At work Mark has worked with people from across the world and as a volunteer with people from all sorts of backgrounds and he has learned that with the right people and by nurturing their passions we can deliver a lot together.

Can we see a different future together?

Many of us are fed up with National Politics and can't work out the differences between the the parties and that's why Mark is different. He's a member of our community and as a Liberal Democrat sees the different set of values needed to lead our city and our country into the future. You may ask yourself why vote? Does any of this make any difference? The answer is yes! We need to stand up for a different set of values. We believe that a successful city and country is built on a successful local community. Labour believes in central control and is so often out of touch, the Tories just leave it to the market and individual success or failure, we believe that if we help communities to help themselves then we all end up winning.

Mark has been active in our community for years trying to live this out. 

Aidan was educated at Heaton Manor High School in Newcastle to sixth form, Manchester Victoria University 1998-2002 (MPharm), Newcastle University Medical School 2006-2010 (NBBS).

He worked as a pharmacist from 2003-2011, and is now a physician at Royal Victoria Hospital specialising in clinical pharmacology, therapeutics and toxicology. He is also a Lecturer Pharmacology Newcastle University. He has two sons aged 6 and 3 years old, and in his spare time he's a self builder, playing football each week with old friends. 

He was a Liberal Democrats councillor for Castle ward from 2018 to 2021. On behalf of the Liberal Democrats he contested the 2019 European elections and the General Election that year for Stockton North.

Aiden worked as a medic throughout the Pandemic, mainly at North Tees Hospital (pictured). At that time he also authored motions debated at Newcastle City Council about the furlough extension and vaccine policy, several of the recommendations of which were adopted by government.

Ali's family moved to Newcastle in 2001 when Ali was a teenager. He quickly came to call Newcastle his home. This is the place that Ali truly deems as his hometown, which is evidenced by his support of Newcastle United, a club where he is a season ticket holder. His passion for football has driven him to become an FA qualified referee. Ali is a keen squash player, enjoys swimming and helps to promote sport for the young and old alike.

Ali attended St Mary's Comprehensive School in Longbenton and then went on to study a master's degree in pharmacy at Sunderland University. Soon after this, he started his career as a pharmacist and is now the area manager for an independent chain of pharmacies in the North East of England. Ali is based in a pharmacy in Newcastle's West End, where he draws on his passions to help the local community. Ali is a registered Dementia Friend and helps the pharmacy and other local businesses to be friendly and accessible to disabled people. Ali believes that mental health is a very important but often a neglected issue today and must receive more attention from Health & Social Services.

Ali believes strongly in intermediate health and social care, close to people's homes. Ali oversees a project that provides pharmaceutical care for people who have been discharged from hospital, aiding their return home as quickly as possible.

Ali feels that one of the biggest threats in modern society comes from environmental issues and helps to combat this by campaigning for recycling, reducing waste and cutting energy consumption across the community.

In 2007, Ali joined the Liberal Democrats and in May 2019 was elected as councillor for Castle Ward in Newcastle upon Tyne. When joining the Liberal Democrats, the key issue for Ali was the Liberal Democrats opposition to the Iraq war. At a time that both Labour and Tories led the United Kingdom into a lengthy, devastating and unnecessary conflict, the Liberal Democrats were the only main political party standing for reason and common sense. Labour took the UK into a costly war and Tories created the Brexit mess. The clear choice to avoid such catastrophes in future is the measured Liberal and centrist approach. Ali hopes that becoming an MP will enable him to play a significant role in tackling the climate emergency we are facing. Ali is a strong campaigner for diversity and equality and has served as the Liberal Democrats equality officer for Newcastle upon Tyne.