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18
May 2020
Last Updated: 17/05/2020
What have our MPs been doing for the last eight weeks?
Eight weeks into lockdown and The Stray Ferret has again tried to establish what MPs Andrew Jones and Julian Smith have been doing to support their constituents
Harrogate MP, Andrew Jones, has reportedly called for Mr Cummings to step down. But Julian Smith, MP for Ripon, has yet to comment.
After the first four weeks of lockdown, The Stray Ferret reported on the activity of our two MPs and what role they were playing in tackling coronavirus. We had struggled to establish exactly what they'd been doing.
It's now eight weeks since lockdown, the country has faced its biggest ever public health emergency, and we have asked them to tell us more about their activity during this time. Again, we did not receive an answer, so here is what we know based on information publicly available.
In Harrogate- here is what we found on Mr Jones:
- He posted one news story on his website in the last four weeks. It urged businesses to plan for when lockdown eases.
- Mr Jones tweeted three times in the last four weeks. None informed his followers of what work he was doing in Harrogate.
- He has no Facebook page to update his constituents on his community work.
- He chaired the first virtual meeting of the European Statutory Instruments Committee on April 21 and chaired another meeting on May 5.
- Last week, he said publicly that people should not get complacent because lockdown is being eased.
- Mr Jones offered to deliver leaflets and food on behalf of the Harrogate Easier Living Project. The charity confirmed that he did that last week.
In Ripon- here is what we found on Mr Smith:
- Mr Smith has posted no news stories on his personal website about his work during lockdown. His last post was in January.
- He does include links to government guidance as part of an advice section on his site.
- On Twitter, two of his 62 tweets since April 20 have been about his constituency - one about Ripon barracks and another on a hardship fund for farmers from the Department for Environment and Rural Affairs (DEFRA).
- Mr Smith posted five times on his Facebook page in the past four weeks to promote the government’s coronavirus bounce back loans. The others were the same Ripon and DEFRA related posts that he made on Twitter.
- He asked a question at Prime Ministers Questions on May 13 where he called on the government to bring an end to rough sleeping in the UK.
- Mr Smith has held telephone surgeries for his constituents throughout lockdown.
What would you like your MP to being focusing on as we ease out of lockdown? Here's what a number of people from both constituencies asked. Have you been in touch with your MP? Have they been helpful? Get in touch with us and tell us how.
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