Colin Breed, Lib Dem MP for South East Cornwall, who tried to heal divisions over hunting – obituary

Colin Edward Breed was born in London on 4 May 1947, the son of Alfred Breed, a chef, and the former Edith Smith. He spent his childhood in Wandsworth, then, after his father took a job in Torquay, he attended the town’s grammar school.

Joined Midland Bank at 17, rising to Area Manager. From 1981 he spent a decade in asset management as managing director of Rowan Dartington, now part of St James’s Place. After a brief stint in corporate finance consultancy, he was a director of Gemini Abrasives from 1992 until his election to Parliament.

Breed joined the Liberal Party in 1966, and in 1982 was elected to both Caradon District Council and Saltash Borough Council; he was twice mayor of Saltash.

For the 1992 election, he was an agent for local MEP Robin Teverson in his campaign to unseat the moderate Tory Robert Hicks as MP for South East Cornwall. Teverson finished with 7,704 votes.

Five years later, Hicks retired and the Conservatives chose Warwick Lightfoot, a Kensington councilor who had been special adviser to three chancellors, to succeed him. His opponent’s lack of local roots and strong national influence against John Major’s government helped Breed win the seat by 6,480 votes; would keep it comfortably in 2001 and 2005.

In his inaugural address, Breed hailed the £40 million Lottery grant that launched what became the Eden Project because of its effect on plant species conservation. He went on to promote an energy efficiency bill to make such data mandatory in a mortgage survey, livid when Tory maverick Eric Forth brought it up.

Paddy Ashdown soon appointed him spokesman for trade and industry. Charles Kennedy, taking over in 1999, brought Breed into his shadow cabinet, giving him the agriculture portfolio. At this time, he was also part of the General Medical Council.