Lib Dems seek court order to evict former member with incurable cancer from her home

The Lib Dems are attempting to evict a 71-year-old founding member of the party who is suffering from incurable cancer from her home to pay its legal bill in a dispute against her.

Jo Hayes was a member of the party for 34 years, served on the party’s federal board and was regional chair for the East of England.

She is due to appear at the county court in Chelmsford on Wednesday where the party will ask the judge to evict her from her home so it can be sold.

She said: “It is worrying because I can't think of a landlord who'd particularly want me as a tenant, since I've got all these health problems, and I don't terribly want to fall over and break something because it won't heal.”

The dispute began after Ms Hayes was expelled in 2022 shortly before she was due to stand in the election to be the party’s federal president after a complaint by the then incumbent president Lord Mark Pack who was subsequently reelected for a second term.

The expulsion happened after she had questioned some of the party’s policies on issues relating to the Equalities Act in regards to trans rights.

Ms Hayes attempted to challenge her expulsion but failed to get it overturned in the high court and now the party is pursuing costs.

The party has suffered a string of legal losses recently including admitting that it had breached the human rights of former award winning BBC journalist David Campanale when the Sutton and Cheem constituency party deselected him for being a Christian ahead of the 2024 election.

A judge is set to consider damages awarded to Mr Campanale in January.

The party also lost in court against Natale Bird, a domestic abuse survivor, and was forced to pay her damages of £14,000 after barring her from being a candidate for Wakefield over her gender critical views.

The party was also forced to allow Liberal Voice for Women back into its conference.

And the party was also sued for discrimination by one of its former councillors Avril Coelho, a disability activist who was expelled.

Ms Hayes will argue that the party is pursuing her because it is faced with bills for damages against others.

She said: “The party thought I was rich so were surprised that I did not just have the money which is why they put a charge on my house.

“They should have know that I wasn’t wealthy given the amount of pro bono work I did for them.”

She will also complain that the party chose to use some of the most expensive lawyers in its cases.

She said: “One of the things I would have done had I been president would have been to resolve these cases and not use such expensive lawyers.”

Ms Hayes maintains that a liberal party should be able to contain both trans activists and those with gender critical views.

“The problem is that it is not a liberal party any more,” she said.

She has accused Sir Ed Davey of “weak leadership” and has claimed that the party is “run by a clique.”

A Lib Dem spokesperson said: “This is an ongoing legal case so it would not be appropriate to comment."