Paul Ko Ferrigno Archives - The Stray Ferret

Andrew Jones to stand for election again in Harrogate and Knaresborough

Andrew Jones will stand to be MP for the Harrogate and Knaresborough constituency for a fifth time, the Conservative party has confirmed.

The announcement follows a meeting of the Harrogate and Knaresborough Conservative Association’s executive committee last night.

There, Mr Jones spoke to party activists and took questions, before a secret ballot selected him as the party’s candidate once again.

After the meeting, in a statement on his website, Community News, he said:

“It is a real privilege to represent the area where I have lived since the 1990s. I have never wanted to represent anywhere else and have never stood for any other parliamentary seat.

“My approach has always been to speak up for our area first, to be active for the community in which I live and to be positive in my campaigns.”

Mr Jones was first elected in 2010, beating the late Liberal Democrat Claire Kelley by just 1,039 votes, following the retirement of long-standing Lib Dem MP Phil Willis.

He increased his majority to more than 16,000 in 2015, and 18,000 two years later. At the last general election in late 2019, it fell to 9,675, though he still polled his second-highest number of votes, at more than 29,000.

The next election will have to be held by January 28, 2025.

Mr Jones will face Tom Gordon of the Liberal Democrats, and Paul Ko Ferrigno for the Green Party. Labour has yet to declare a candidate in the race.

When asked in January whether Mr Jones would be standing again, a spokesperson for the Harrogate and Knaresborough Conservative Association said:

“I think I must have missed something… is there a general election? I am able to confirm that the MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough is Andrew Jones.”

This week, reflecting on his 13 years in politics on his website, Mr Jones said:

“I’m really not interested in US-style attack politics where people drag one another down all the time. Where we have differences we should challenge one another respectfully and constructively. It saddens me that too often in local and national politics this doesn’t happen.

“I will keep campaigning for the things people here tell me our area needs building on the successes of the past 13 years. We have more trains to and from London, more services to Leeds and York, the pacers have gone, we have a largely electric bus fleet, our public buildings are being de-carbonised, we have new leisure facilities being built, more electric vehicle charging points are on the way, there is sustained low unemployment and over 10,000 new trees have been planted in the constituency.

“This is only a flavour of our progress locally. There is more to do and none of these things happen because of any one person. They happen because residents, community groups, councillors and the Member of Parliament work together to make them happen. Residents can be assured that my ongoing commitment to those community partnerships is genuine because this is my community too.

“It is an honour to be given the chance to serve our community again.”

Investment zones ‘won’t harm environment’, claims Andrew Jones MP

Harrogate and Knaresborough Conservative MP Andrew Jones has rejected claims that investment zones could harm the environment.

North Yorkshire County Council revealed last week it had submitted expressions of interest to the government to create investment zones at three Harrogate district sites.

They are Harrogate Convention Centre, junction 47 of the A1 and Potter Space Ripon, a business park at Junction 50 of the A1.

The zones will benefit from liberalised planning laws and tax incentives for businesses, which has sparked concerns from environmental groups such as the Wildlife Trusts that they will put wildlife and wild spaces at risk.

But Mr Jones told the House of Commons this week:

“These are sites where we have existing commercial activity which were already earmarked for further investment. Investment zones give us the opportunity to lever in funding from the government.

“I understand that individuals and some groups were concerned that the new investment zones would see the development of huge swathes of countryside. I would not have supported their introduction were that the case.

“But it is clear from the sites that are being brought forward that this is far from the case”

Read more:

Green Party rejects Mr Jones’ claims

Paul Ko Ferrigno

But Harrogate and District Green Party prospective parliamentary candidate Paul Ko Ferrigno criticised Mr Jones’ stance.

“Like his government, Mr Jones has had 12 long years to establish his green credentials, and it is on that track record that he must be judged, not some aspirational scheme that has been rushed in so quickly that councillors have not been given time to scrutinise the detail.

“It isn’t even clear that these investment zones are needed because we haven’t been told which regulations are potentially holding schemes back.”

Business support

Lilla Bathurst, manager of Ripon Business Improvement District, backed the county council’s submission. She said:

“Whilst the Potter Space is outside the Ripon BID area, we welcome any investment into the Ripon city region.

“The potential for more businesses and employment in the area, and therefore further footfall and spend in our BID businesses, can only be a positive and we fully support Cllr Carl Les and North Yorkshire County Council in their submission.”

However, the North Yorkshire branch of Unison took a different view:

We share the concerns of @WildlifeTrusts, and our branch committee has voted unanimously to oppose #InvestmentZones and we arw asking @northyorkscc to withdraw its interest.@AJonesMP @nadams @JulianSmithUK @JulianSturdy @RishiSunak @kevinhollinrake

@ChrisGPackham https://t.co/3oHgEsdb3u

— North Yorkshire UNISON (@NYUnison) October 15, 2022

Harrogate opposition parties cool on pact as election manoeuvres begin

Liz Truss may have only just entered Downing Street but opposition parties in Harrogate and Knaresborough have begun manoeuvrings for the next general election.

This week the Green Party became the first to name its prospective parliamentary candidate. The Liberal Democrats are expected to follow suit by the end of the year.

Conservative Andrew Jones has won four successive elections in Harrogate and Knaresborough since 2010, securing 53% of the vote at the last campaign in 2019.

The next election is widely expected to take place in 2024 — and some think his biggest threat comes from opposition parties working together rather than splitting the vote. But the early signs are this is unlikely to happen.

There was little appetite for a pact at a Green Party hustings event this week. Paul Ko Ferrigno, the only candidate standing for leadership, insisted he was fighting to win, and even if he didn’t he was more interested in shaping the debate than doing deals.

Asked if he was willing to risk letting the Tories in with this approach, Mr Ko Ferrigno said:

“Yes — but if what I’ve done is shift the conversation so the next time round the Tories are being more green in their approach, more forward in their approach, because of the way we have been campaigning, then that’s OK.”

The Greens still harbour ill feeling from the last election, when their candidate, Shan Oakes, stood down.

Green Party members at this week’s hustings.

Arnold Warneken, who represents Ouseburn for the Greens on North Yorkshire County Council, told this week’s meeting:

“We had a national agreement with Lib Dems. Shan agreed to stand aside. The problem with that is you have to trust the people you deal with.

“The trust for us has disappeared. That’s not good for a future progressive alliance.”

Cllr Warneken added, however, that a final decision on pacts would be taken locally.

Labour and Lib Dems

The Stray Ferret asked Chris Watt, vice-chair, Harrogate & Knaresborough Labour Party, which took 11% of the vote in 2019, if it would consider an opposition pact. He replied:

“Being a much larger party, Labour operates a national system with local parties making the final decision on their candidate.”

Mr Watt added Harrogate and Knaresborough Labour “have asked to move forward with selecting a candidate as soon as possible”.

The process to select a Liberal Democrat candidate is being re-run after the national Lib Dems upgraded Harrogate and Knaresborough to a target seat.

David Goode, chair of the Harrogate and Knaresborough Lib Dems, said:

“I’m hoping to have the procedures completed Christmas time.”

The Liberal Democrats achieved 36% of the vote in 2019 and seem best placed to take on Mr Jones. But whoever stands might not be able to rely on the help of opposition parties.

Green Party chooses man to fight Andrew Jones in Harrogate and Knaresborough

Harrogate and District Green Party is set to name Paul Ko Ferrigno as its prospective parliamentary candidate for the next general election.

Mr Ko Ferrigno was one of two people nominated but the other contender, Arnold Warneken, withdrew.

The party is holding an election hustings event tonight when Mr Ko Ferrigno will outline his vision.

Members will have the opportunity to ask questions before deciding whether to ratify his selection as PPC.

Tonight’s hustings, which is open to everyone, will take place at the Friends Meeting House on Queen Parade at 7.30pm.

The Friends Meeting House

It is hoped the process to select a candidate will be finalised before the Green Party autumn conference begins in Harrogate on September 30.

Mr Ko Ferrigno, 59, a scientist, told the Stray Ferret he had been a “passive supporter of the Green Party” for many years and a party member for two years.

Born in London, he lived in France for a decade from the age of 10 and has lived in Harrogate since 2007.

Mr Ko Ferrigno is a football referee, and has widespread volunteering experience as a coach for Pannal Ash Junior Football Club, a welfare officer on Harrogate and District Junior Football League and a governor at Oatlands Junior School in Harrogate.

He said he wanted to see more taxis and fewer cars and greater support for cycling, including measures to encourage cycling couriers to replace vans. He said:

“Harrogate is seen as being the Bettys of the country. Let’s live up to that reputation by doing everything well.”

The Green Party did not field a candidate in Harrogate and Knaresborough in the 2019 general election, when Conservative Andrew Jones retained the seat with 53% of the vote.

Asked whether the Greens would consider stepping aside as part of a pact with other parties, Mr Ko Ferrigno said “it’s a conversation to be had” but added:

“I’m not one of those who think we need to get the Conservatives out at all costs. We need to elect the right candidate

“Having a Green in any conversation makes a difference. Recycling started as a Green Party conversation.

“What we will do by standing is shift the conversation. Even if I don’t get elected — and I hope I will — we will move the conversation.”