Helen Jones - Work in Warrington North

Work in Warrington North

Helen Jones lives in Warrington North with her family, in the village of Culcheth, and employs her husband her as parliamentary assistant.

In early 2007, Jones slammed Scottish Power Manweb for its treatment of bereaved relatives of dead customers when the company continued to send bills to a deceased relative's home. She stated in the Commons that "Scottish Power Manweb's policy is a blatant attempt to obtain money for electricity which has not been used."

In the latter part of 2007, Jones backed the campaign to save Woolston High School, after Warrington Borough Council announced plans to close the Warrington North school.

Helen Jones has engaged in a fierce war of words with Warrington Borough Council on numerous occasions, beginning when she obtained emails that revealed the council's Chief Executive had explored the possibility of legal action against her following an Adjournment Debate in the Commons (where Jones had accused the council of failing to answer her letters on concerns raised by Warrington North constituents). Helen condemned the council's threat as a "waste of time and money", reminding them that any comments made in the House enjoy legal protection. She claimed that the council's threat to sue her for defamation "raised questions about the competence" of council officers.

Jones responded to the threat in the Liverpool Daily Post by stating: "Maybe they think it will shut me up – but it won’t. I will continue to speak up for my constituents."

In the same year, Jones made local headlines when she posed with a cardboard cut out of the council's Chief Executive in protest at her alleged failure to tackle important community issues, including anti-social behaviour in the Orford area. She accused the council of "showing disrespect" to people in the north of the town and told the Warrington Guardian at the time that: "Our Chief Executive appears to have gone missing."

In June 2008, Warrington's first energy-saving wind turbine was launched at the headquarters of the North West Regional Development Agency in the town. Helen Jones joined the NWDA's Chief Executive, Steven Broomhead, and local media to officially launch the turbine.