MPs watch: Sewage dumps, commissioner resignations and David Amess

Last updated Oct 29, 2021

Every month the Stray Ferret tries to find out what our local MPs have been up to in their constituencies and in the House of Commons.

In October, Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced his Autumn budget and MPs were criticised for rejecting an amendment to stop raw sewage being pumped into rivers.

All of our district MPs were urged by North Yorkshire Police to report personal security concerns following the murder of David Amess MP in his constituency.

We asked our three Conservative MPs, Harrogate & Knaresborough’s Andrew Jones, Skipton and Ripon’s Julian Smith, and Selby and Ainsty’s Nigel Adams if they would like to highlight anything in particular that they have been doing this month, but, as usual, we did not receive a response from any of them.

Here is what we know after analysing their online presence.

Andrew Jones, Harrogate and Knaresborough MP.

In Harrogate and Knaresborough, here is what we found on Mr Jones:

Mr Jones did not post any news on his website in October.
On October 20, Mr Jones voted against a House of Lords amendment to put a legal duty on water companies and prevent them discharging waste into rivers and seas.
Mr Jones spoke six times in the House of Commons in October.
Two of those contributions were on the environment, including congratulating Harrogate District Climate Change Coalition for hosting its first climate action festival ahead of COP26.
On October 14, following the resignation of Philip Allott as North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner, Mr Jones posted onto his Conservative-run site that Mr Allott had “done the right thing”. He also paid tribute to David Amess.
Mr Jones’ Twitter account is for ‘retweets only’.

Julian Smith, MP for Ripon and Skipton.

In Skipton and Ripon, here is what we found on Mr Smith:

Mr Smith updated his website three times in September. He posted about Bilsdale transmitter and visiting Grassington hub.
He tweeted 12 times last month. Among his social media posts were tweets paying tribute to David Amess MP. He also paid tribute to James Brokenshire MP, who died on October 8.
Mr Smith was the only one of our district MPs to call for Philip Allott to resign. On October 11, he tweeted that Mr Allott “should go”.
Mr Smith voted against the House of Lords amendment on river sewage.
Mr Smith posted four times on his Facebook page.
He spoke once in the House of Commons this month. On October 26, Mr Smith made a spoken contribution on Northern Ireland.

Nigel Adams, MP for Selby and Ainsty which includes rural Harrogate.

In rural south Harrogate, here is what we found on Mr Adams:

Mr Adams tweeted six times in October.
On Twitter, he paid tribute to both James Brokenshire MP and David Amess MP.
He posted once on his website on October 26 about road works being carried out on the A1 and A64.
On October 5, the Stray Ferret reported that a former arms tycoon who donated £33,800 to Mr Adams was back under media scrutiny after the leak of the Pandora Papers.
Mr Adams did not post anything on his social media or website about Philip Allott’s resignation of police commissioner.
Mr Adams voted against the House of Lords amendment on river sewage.
He did not make any spoken contributions in the House of Commons in October.

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