CHAMPIONING THE REGION: Lord Dave McCobb on the Avenues in Hull, where he lives
A seat in the House of Lords has given Dave McCobb a significant new platform to speak up for Hull and East Yorkshire. He discussed with Rick Lyon his ambitions for the region, making time for family and his dad’s lasting influence
Five minutes after being introduced to the House of Lords, Dave McCobb tabled his first question. After 24 years as a Hull councillor, he wasted no time showing he would champion the city and region.
“I wanted to put a marker down that I’m there to do a job for this part of the world,” he said.
Rail electrification, jobs at Saltend and securing more investment for Hull and East Yorkshire are already occupying his attention.
For Lord McCobb, who lives on the Avenues in Hull with his wife and seven-year-old son, the opportunity to speak up for the area in Westminster offers a chance to tackle problems he could not resolve at the Guildhall.
“The beauty of being a local councillor is that you can help people day to day, with really practical problems, and I love doing that,” he said.
“But it also gives you an insight into the bigger structural things that you can’t change, that you need Westminster to change. So, I saw it as an opportunity to pick up some of those bigger fights.”
His first was the long-running campaign to electrify Hull’s railway. He has challenged ministers over the commitment in the September 2024 devolution deal to electrify and improve connections towards Leeds and Sheffield.
The Government has announced new battery-electric trains serving Hull, but Lord McCobb’s complaint is that this does not fulfil its promise to electrify the line. Follow-up questions seek clarity on that commitment, journey times and the future of the Sheffield link.
HONOUR: Lord McCobb has vowed to fight for Hull and East Yorkshire in his new position
“Rail electrification is a really significant thing for the local economy. For a city that isn’t on the mainline, connectivity is really important,” Lord McCobb said.
“We’ve been promised over and over again, for decades, that someone is going to upgrade our rail connections.
“It’s ridiculous that it’s quicker to get from London to Paris than it is to get from Hull to Liverpool.
“The first answer I got back was, quite frankly, rubbish, and didn’t answer the question at all. So, I’m not going to give up, and I’ve asked three more questions on that subject. We’ve got to keep going, because it’s an issue that’s vital for jobs and investment.”
He has also pressed for Government intervention to restart the three INEOS plants at Saltend, where production was halted in late September. His question sought a meeting in Hull involving ministers, the company, council leaders, local MPs and trade unions.
“With INEOS, it’s not just that one facility – it has a knock-on effect on other parts of Saltend,” said Lord McCobb. “There are so many people in the surrounding area who depend on both direct employment there and the wider supply chain.”
Lord McCobb said he wants local businesses, councils and community organisations to help shape what he takes to Parliament.
“What was fascinating to me was that, after I’d made my maiden speech in the House of Lords, other Lords came up to me and said they’d heard more about Hull in the last half an hour than they had for years,” he said.
IMPORTANT ISSUE: Lord McCobb has accused the Government of dodging its promise to electrify Hull's railway
“That’s what I want to do. Hull and East Yorkshire is an incredible part of the world, it’s got huge potential, but we need some critical infrastructure investments. It’s about how people work and live and invest – those are the sort of issues that I want to tackle.
“I want to support efforts to bring more tourism investment here. What never ceases to amaze me about Hull is that, whenever I bring someone here who hasn’t been here before, they go away saying ‘wow, I wasn’t expecting somewhere as nice as this’.
“I’ll be listening to key players in the area. I want to engage as much as I can with the local authorities, with the business community. There’s an incredible network of communities that can help me identify issues that I can apply pressure to the Government on to get things done.”
But there is one person he wishes could have seen him take his seat.
His dad, Tony, a former East Riding councillor for the Liberal Democrats and the man whose example first drew him towards politics, died in March, just 18 days after being diagnosed with liver cancer.
“Obviously, I miss him loads,” said Lord McCobb. “He died on March 16 and I found out on July 17 that I’d been appointed to the House of Lords. On September 17, I was introduced as a Peer. I wish he hadn’t missed it by six months.
“It has been very difficult. My dad was much more of an inspiration to me and what I’ve ended up doing than I think I realised at the time. It’s only now that I realise how much he inspired me.
“The words I use to describe him are kind and wise. He was very gentle and thoughtful, never had a bad word to say about anybody and really cared about the world and the future. There are causes I want to take up on his behalf, too.
CAMPAIGNING: Lord McCobb has challenged the Government to step in and secure the restart of the three INEOS plants at Saltend Chemicals Park
Tony had received treatment last year and been given the all-clear. His diagnosis in February came as a shock.
“That was a huge surprise, because he’d seemed fine in January and then we were at his funeral in April, said Lord McCobb.
“There was an incredible turnout at his funeral by lots of people from different parts of his life – from his time working at the University of Hull, as a councillor and from what he’d done in the community – and it was really touching to see how much he meant to so many people.”
Lord McCobb’s own connection to the area began long before his council career. His parents came to Hull as students in the 1960s and stayed. His mum taught at Woldgate School in Pocklington and Market Weighton School and his dad worked in the university’s languages department, becoming head of German.
Lord McCobb attended Kirk Ella St Andrew’s Primary School and Hymers College in Hull, then studied French and Spanish at Keble College, Oxford, spending a year teaching English in Spain.
Tony had been elected to Beverley Borough Council in 1992 and then the new East Riding Council in 1995, serving there for 12 years.
Lord McCobb said: “When I was a teenager I helped my dad a bit, delivering leaflets and that sort of thing. Then I went through a grumpy teenager phase and decided ‘I’m not just going to go along with my dad, I’m going to think for myself’.”
An extra politics GCSE at Hymers coincided with Tony Blair’s 1997 landslide General Election victory. After considering his own loyalties, he reached a familiar conclusion.
INSPIRATION: Tony McCobb during his time as a counncillor with East Riding Council
“I actually decided that my dad was probably right, and I was a Lib Dem!” said Lord McCobb. “After that I got a bit involved, including in a couple of council by-elections. In the first one I was involved in, we lost to the Conservatives in Brough by four votes, and I’ve never forgotten that.”
When home from university, he became increasingly involved in organising for the Lib Dems in Hull, running its 2000 council election campaign before standing himself in 2002.
He represented Beverley ward for 16 years, then Beverley and Newland following boundary changes in 2018.
“I loved it – it was fabulous!” said Lord McCobb. “I met an amazing number of genuinely lovely people and loads of people who give so much time to their community, and I loved working with those people.
“I helped set up the Friends of Oak Road playing fields, I supported the volunteers who set up the Trafalgar Centre on Compass Road, I helped open a new post office after the one on the corner of Beverley Road and Sutton Road closed by putting out an appeal to the public and finding people who would take it on.
“At one point, when they were going to build the new Sirius North Academy, there was a proposal to take up all the Princess Elizabeth playing fields for the school grounds, and along with a group of local residents I ran a campaign that saved a section of the playing fields for public access.
“As a result of that campaign, we won an agreement to have two new public parks – one north of Orchard Park and one north of where Endike Primary School is now.”
As a cabinet member, Lord McCobb was also instrumental in establishing the council’s Crime Prevention Fund, which has supported more than 100 community safety projects, and helped ensure residents had a say through the transport survey after the Lib Dems regained control in 2022.
HARD WORK: Lord McCobb, right, with his dad Tony campaigning for Councill Mike Ross in Willerby ahead of the 2025 mayoral election
Alongside his council work, he built a professional career with the party, becoming its Yorkshire campaigns manager, overseeing its regional campaigns between 2006 and 2010, then overseeing the north of England, finally taking over as UK campaigns director in 2020.
His decision to step down as a councillor this May was mainly about his family.
“We had a new candidate, Lucy Lennon, who was really good and I wanted to encourage her to do it, and I wanted to go out when I was still enjoying it, said Lord McCobb.
“But more than anything I was conscious that my son’s seven and it’s always been hard to juggle work, council work and home life, and I wanted to spend more time with my family. In the end, that’s what decided it for me. That time with my son when he’s primary age is precious, and I’m only going to have that once.
“It was still a tough decision because I’ve genuinely always got a lot of satisfaction from helping people with individual problems. As a local councillor, you can make a visible, tangible difference to people’s everyday lives.”
His dad’s death and his own illness meant his final weeks on the council were far from what he had hoped. While caring for Tony at home, Lord McCobb began suffering severe gallstone pain. A month to the day after his dad died, he was admitted to hospital.
His gallbladder was badly infected and had to be removed through surgery that left him with 25 staples.
“The combination of looking after my dad in March and then being ill in April meant I couldn’t end my time as a councillor how I would have liked,” said Lord McCobb. “I got to my last council meeting in March but, after all those years, there were a few projects I didn’t get to complete. And I would have liked to have been at the count to see Lucy take over from me.”
MAIDEN SPEECH: Lord McCobb in the House of Lords
Whilst the possibility of a peerage had been floated in principle with him after the last general election, confirmation did not arrive until July 17. That day, he had arranged to finish work early to collect his son from school.
“I got a phone call around 2.45am to say it was definitely happening and that it was going to be made public at 4pm – so I had a slightly surreal school run!” said Lord McCobb.
“It was lovely, and my phone went mad when the news came out.
“It’s an incredible honour, and an incredible privilege.
“I started thinking straight away what I could do to help put Hull and East Yorkshire on the map more, for good reasons, now that I have a stronger voice to do so – and how to explain it to a seven-year-old!”
Accepting a seat has not changed his view that members of the Lords should be elected.
“I would vote in a heartbeat that these roles should be elected, not appointed,” said Lord McCobb. “If legislation ever comes before the House of Lords to say these should be elected roles rather than appointed roles, I would vote for that.
“Whilst they are appointments, I think it’s important that those who are appointed want to modernise it. I’ve always felt the House of Lords should represent the views of the country, not those of the Prime Minister of the day, so I would vote for House of Lords reform.”
For now, he sees a practical role in taking local priorities directly to those with the power to act.
“Every month, Hull City Council meet and East Riding Council meet to debate practical changes they would like to see central government adopt,” said Lord McCobb. “I want to help amplify some of those and see if I can help secure the meetings directly with the Government that unlock the investment this area needs.
“I want to open doors in Westminster to get things done for this area.”