Woking.

Woking's Liberal Democrat MP has broken with his party twice on assisted dying and twice against the Tobacco and Vapes Bill -- four rebel votes since his election in 2024, all on conscience-heavy legislation. On the assisted dying bill in June 2025, he backed two amendments to strengthen safeguards, going further than his party's majority position. His opposition to the Tobacco and Vapes Bill at both second and third reading put him at odds with most Lib Dem colleagues on what the government billed as a generational public health measure. More recently, he backed referring Keir Starmer to the Privileges Committee over the Peter Mandelson appointment and opposed government regulations that would withdraw support from asylum seekers found working illegally -- both consistent with his party's line on parliamentary accountability and civil liberties.

At 75% voting participation, Forster is somewhat below the Commons average. He votes against the government on fiscal and tax matters at an above-average rate for a Lib Dem, with low alignment on workers' rights and progressive taxation measures -- he has opposed every employer National Insurance increase vote in the dataset. He speaks frequently on local government, the economy, social care, immigration, and crime, and sits on the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee, which helps explain the 46 local-government contributions in his record. His 99% party-line rate on other votes marks him as broadly loyal, with deviations concentrated on specific conscience issues.

Local news coverage over the past 90 days is dominated by constituency stories -- Woking FC, council finances, cost of living -- with Forster appearing in connection with the removal of food vouchers by Surrey County Council, where he publicly called for the decision to be reversed. His news sentiment score is near zero overall, reflecting a large volume of local coverage in which he features only occasionally. Data on his committee work and speech record is available from TheyWorkForYou; local news analysis draws on 69 articles from the past 90 days.