William Neil Carmichael[2] (born 15 April 1961)[3] is a British politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Stroud from 2010 until 2017.

In April 2019, he announced he had left the Conservative Party; he subsequently joined Change UK for which he was an unsuccessful candidate in the East of England constituency at the 2019 European Parliament election.

[citation needed] Carmichael began his political career after being elected to Northumberland County Council in 1989, on which he served for four years.

[5] In 1999, Carmichael moved to Gloucestershire where he was selected to stand for Stroud in the 2001 general election, losing to the Labour Party's David Drew.

[6] He made his maiden speech on 2 June 2010[7] and became a member of the Environmental Audit Committee,[8] whose task is to monitor the worthiness of all government department activity from the perspective of cutting carbon emissions.

[18] In 2013, Carmichael successfully piloted his Bill through Parliament for the UK to fulfil its international environmental obligations in the Antarctic.

On Newsnight on 30 August 2017, he said that the UK is now 'a secular liberal nation' and that religion, along with race, should not be a significant factor in determining the choice of foster parents.

Carmichael also chairs the Commission on Sustainable Learning for Work, Life and a Changing Economy supported by Pearson Education.