Pugh served on Sefton Metropolitan Borough Council, representing Birkdale, from 1987 until his election to Parliament.

In his party's 2015 leadership election, John Pugh supported Tim Farron in preference to Norman Lamb.

[2] Amongst Pugh's campaigning interests was public sector IT, specifically around the role Open Source Software might play.

Pugh has argued that the public sector could reduce costs by increasing use of Open Source Software[11] and has accused the BBC of effectively giving Microsoft illegal state aid in only making their iPlayer download service available on Windows computers (at the time).

[13] In October 2009, Pugh introduced a private members' bill under the 10-minute rule calling for more local control over the NHS.

[15] Pugh saw cheap alcohol deals in supermarkets as one of the major problems causing pub closures, and fuelling the culture.