Liberal Democrat peer Richard Livsey was a strong supporter of agriculture Tributes have been paid to Liberal Democrat peer and former Welsh party leader Richard Livsey who has died aged 75.
The former MP played a leading role in the Yes campaign in the assembly referendum in 1997.
He was MP for Brecon and Radnorshire for 11 years and Welsh party leader for eight years.
Welsh Lib Dem leader Kirsty Williams said he would be remembered as a champion for rural communities.
Ms Williams, the Brecon and Radnorshire AM, said Lord Livsey had inspired her to join the party as a teenager and had acted as her political mentor.
She said he was “a man of immense honour and decency who was loved and respected by his constituents, colleagues and by politicians of all parties.”
“He will be remembered particularly as a champion for the rural communities in which he lived and an expert on agriculture, which he worked in all his professional life.
“As Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats, he was a passionate advocate for Welsh devolution.
“His role in achieving a ‘Yes’ vote in the 1997 referendum establishing the National Assembly for Wales will be long remembered,” she said.
Plaid Cymru leader Ieuan Wyn Jones, the deputy first minister, also paid tribute, describing Lord Livsey as a “very good colleague and hard-working MP”.
“His interest and support for agriculture and our rural communities was formidable, ” said Mr Jones.
“Richard’s commitment to devolution in Wales was also enormous.”
Ieuan Wyn Jones Plaid Cymru leader
“Richard’s commitment to devolution in Wales was also enormous. I recall how thrilled he was to have been a part of the successful referendum campaign in 1997.
“He played a major part in that campaign, and this important contribution will live on to future generations in Wales.”
Lord Livsey leaves a wife, two sons, and a daughter.
Brought up in Talgarth, Breconshire, he entered Parliament in a by-election in Brecon and Radnorshire in 1985 and held the seat by just 56 votes in the 1987 general election.
He became Welsh Liberal Democrat leader in 1988 but lost his seat by 130 votes in the 1992 election.
He was re-elected five years later becoming Liberal Democrat Shadow Welsh Secretary. He became a peer after standing down as an MP in 2001.
Lord Livsey played a leading role in the Yes campaign in the Welsh assembly referendum in 1997 and took to the stage alongside then Welsh Secretary Ron Davies and the other campaign leaders as the narrow result in favour of devolution was announced.
“He was a very popular man and politician, and not just with his own party but across the political spectrum”
Gareth Vaughan President, Farmers’ Union of Wales
He had a close connection with the Brecon and Radnor area all his life, as Trustee of the Campaign for the Protection of Rural Wales and chairman of the Brecon Jazz Festival.
Lord Livsey was also a member of Talgarth Male Choir and appeared with them at the Royal Albert Hall last year for a Welsh Association of Male Voice Choirs concert.
The peer helped found the Welsh Agricultural College in Aberystwyth and was a senior lecturer in Farm Management from 1971 to 1985.
President of the Farmers’ Union of Wales, Gareth Vaughan, said Lord Livsey was a “good friend” to agriculture in the Lords.
“When we had an issue it was very easy to pick up the phone to Lord Livsey,” he said.
“It is so important for us to have people in authority who understand the ways of the countryside. That is not the case in many quarters, but that certainly couldn’t be said of Lord Livsey, who was well versed in the ways of the agricultural industry.
“Apart from that, he was a very, very popular man and politician, and not just with his own party but across the political spectrum.”
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