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06
Jul
One-year on: How has Harrogate and Knaresborough MP Tom Gordon performed?
Twelves months ago, Harrogate and Knaresborough elected a new member of parliament.
Tom Gordon, Liberal Democrat, won the seat with 23,976 votes ending the Conservatives 14-year reign.
From fairer GP funding to calls for a Harrogate Spring Water levy to be spent in Harrogate, the Lib Dem MP has pushed various campaigns in his first year.
But how has Mr Gordon performed and what has he achieved? In this article, the Stray Ferret takes a closer look at the Harrogate and Knaresborough MP's performance.
Election win
During his victory speech in Harrogate Convention Centre, Mr Gordon said the result showed the Lib Dems “were back”.
He also pledged to be the “local champion” for people Harrogate and Knaresborough, no matter how they voted.
Since his election win, Mr Gordon wasted little time in bringing up issues raised with him in the House of Commons.
He has spoken in the house 112 times since July last year on a range of matters including roadworks causing “gridlock” in Harrogate, bus passes for disabled people and shoplifting in Harrogate town centre.
Tom Gordon MP
Mr Gordon has also voted in the house 168 times since his election — most recently abstaining during a vote on the proscription of Palestine Action as a terrorist group.
The Lib Dem MP also wasted little time in launching campaigns and calling for more support from government.
In recent months, Mr Gordon has called on the government to support grassroots dance and called on ministers to ensure equal access to a life-extending prostate cancer drug.
One of his local campaigns saw the Lib Dem MP call for the Harrogate Spring Water levy to be spent locally. The company pays a 0.5% levy on profits each year to Tory-run North Yorkshire Council. The sum was £176,806 in the financial year ending March 2024.
Mr Gordon brought the issue before the House of Commons, where he raised the matter with Lucy Powell, Leader of the House of Commons.
He said:
Our super council at North Yorkshire is depriving Harrogate of much needed funds to help the town thrive. We were promised a local council, but North Yorkshire is clearly anything but. Towns as far apart as Skipton, Harrogate and Scarborough – to name a few – were never realistically going to be ‘local’ to each other.
In April this year, he also set up a petition calling on residents to back his campaign to get the levy spent locally.
Political parties' response
The Stray Ferret asked other political parties in Harrogate and Knaresborough how they felt the Lib Dem MP had performed.
Rebecca Reeve-Burnett, chair of Harrogate and Knaresborough Conservative Association, said:
It's worrying that some of his claims are exposed as nonsense, which I expect is making him feel a bit uncomfortable in the role. He claims he has “secured over £20 million in government funding” for the Harrogate College rebuild. The funding was announced in 2022 and planning application submitted in August 2023 - long before Mr Gordon was MP. I believe he had an unsuccessful meeting with the minister about extending the funding deadline, which is hardly cause to celebrate.
The project has finally received the go ahead, which is good news we should celebrate locally, but there is no need for our MP to claim things when there is a clear audit trail to the contrary. The same is true for claims about funding for two new operating theatres, a day case ward and imaging centre at the hospital, and the recent funding for the convention centre – Mr Gordon claims to have secured local investment, yet decisions were made before his being elected as the MP or without his involvement. It makes people question everything else said too.
Mr Gordon responded to the claims over funding for Harrogate hospital funding in June, when he was asked a question on the matter by Cllr Michael Harrison, Conservative councillor for Hampsthwaite and Saltergate, during a North Yorkshire Council meeting.
As reported previously by the Stray Ferret, Cllr Harrison accused him of claiming credit for the funding “when, in fairness, you didn’t have anything to do with that”.
Mr Gordon replied by accusing Cllr Harrison of an “inadvertent misrepresentation”. He said:
Lib Dems campaign all year round and I was campaigning well outside the general election period to running a campaign and petition to make sure that funding was secured so I think that’s an inadvertent misrepresentation that I didn’t do anything before by Cllr Harrison.
When I speak to people on the ground and the conversations we have, people felt the previous MP had been railroaded into campaigning on the issue and was campaigning on the narrative and the agenda we set, whether that be sewage, whether that be health and NHS.
After his election, Mr Gordon lobbied for an an extension to a funding deadline for Harrogate College amid a challenge to its redevelopment plans.
In one of his first acts as MP in July 2024, he wrote to Bridget Phillipson, the Secretary of State for Education, to ask for an extension to the March 2026 deadline.
He also raised the matter in the House of Commons and requested to meet with a government minister to discuss the matter. In November 2024, he secured a meeting with the minister for skills.
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Reform UK in Harrogate and Knaresborough said:
One year on, our MP has been highly visible—but visibility is not delivery. Despite a flood of newsletters, many constituents see more spin than substance. Where does he stand on key local issues like the Gateway project, the Harrogate Spring Water expansion, and the spread of solar farms on prime farmland? Clear answers—and real progress—are overdue.
In October 2024, Mr Gordon opposed the expansion of Harrogate Spring Water. At the time, he said:
Harrogate Spring Water should be looking to invest in the town not just by providing jobs and trees, but by creating a larger area that local residents can come and enjoy, so that those who aren’t working for them actually benefit from the expansion. How can they expect anyone to support their plan when it only takes away from the town?
'While others choose to attack, I'll get on with the job'
The Stray Ferret approached Mr Gordon’s office for a response to the claims.
Mr Gordon said:
It’s no surprise that political opponents disagree with me - that’s democracy. But it is disappointing to see them resort to outright falsehoods and an attempt to talk down our area for their own political ends.
I was elected to bring a positive, ambitious voice to Harrogate and Knaresborough, and I’ve spent the past year doing just that.
From securing a funding extension for the rebuild of Harrogate College, to getting funding towards a new 3G pitch at Knaresborough Town AFC’s, to standing up for local families on spray foam insulation and adoption breakdown, I’ve continue to campaign and started to deliver on the issues that matter to people here.
That record speaks for itself. And while others choose to attack, I’ll keep choosing to get on with the job.
My priority is, and always will be, delivering for the people of Harrogate and Knaresborough, not scoring points or playing political games.
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