LONDON, July 22 (Xinhua) -- Britain's third political party, the minority Liberal Democrats announced the name of its new leader Monday.
Jo Swinson emerged as the party's first ever female leader, beating Ed Davey in a two-way contest among the party's 106,000 members. She won 47,900 votes, against the 28,021 gained by Davey.
In her victory speech, Swinson said she will do what it takes to stop Brexit. Swinson, the MP for the Scottish parliamentary constituency of East Dunbartonshire, served as party's deputy leader for two years and is the bookmakers' favorite.
The Liberal Democrats have 12 MPs in the House of Commons, and in this year's European Parliament elections won a 20 percent share of the vote. The party also made major gains in the English city hall elections in May.
Glasgow-born Swinson was one of the casualties of the 2015 election, losing the Commons seat she had held for 10 years. When Swinson was first elected in 2015 she was regarded as the "baby of the house" as the youngest sitting MP. She regained her parliamentary seat two years later in the snap general election called by Prime Minister Theresa May.
