Councillor Anne Yates

5.56.31pm BST (GMT +0100) Fri 22nd Aug 2008

The death of Anne Yates on 21 August 2008 is a great sadness, to her family, her Liberal Democrat and other colleagues, her many friends and the community she served so well.

It is a consolation to many that Anne died peacefully and in no pain with all her family around her in her last hours. I was privileged to be with her at her bedside, for the last time, less than two hours before she died.

Anne Yates was a people's representative, a people's councillor and a people's Mayor. Anne was concerned for and working for her constituents in Rotherhithe right up until her last days.

Anne Yates brought to Bermondsey and Rotherhithe the gritty, no nonsense approach of a Glaswegian who had moved south when she was a teenager but never forgot how hard inner-city life can be. All of her years of public service saw her use, in support of many, that direct no nonsense approach for which she was so widely respected. Southwark Park, the Rotherhithe Festival and many other organisations, events and people benefited from her consistent and enthusiastic support.

It has been a privilege to have Anne as a loyal friend, supporter and colleague throughout my twenty five years as the North Southwark and Bermondsey MP.

My most sincere condolences, love and sympathy go to her large and loving family and her friends.

Simon Hughes, MP for North Southwark and Bermondsey and Liberal Democrat Federal Party President