Anne McIntosh - Parliamentary Career

Parliamentary Career

McIntosh unsuccessfully contested the 1987 general election at Workington where she was defeated by the sitting Labour MP Dale Campbell-Savours. She was elected for Essex North East at the 1989 European Parliament election and for its successor seat of Essex North and Suffolk South at the 1994 election. She remained a Member of the European Parliament until she stood down at the 1999 contest.

She was elected to the House of Commons in the 1997 general election for the Vale of York which she won by a comfortable 9,721 majority and has held the seat easily since. She was promoted to the Opposition frontbench in 2001 as a spokesperson for Culture, Media and Sport and has held a number of front bench positions since (Transport (2003–2005), Foreign Affairs (2005), Work and Pensions (2005–2007), and Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (2007–2010), though never at shadow cabinet level.

In boundary changes agreed in 2006, the Vale of York constituency was divided up leaving no obvious successor; the seat with the closest identity to it was Thirsk and Malton which was the successor to Ryedale, held since 1987 by John Greenway. McIntosh was placed on the 'A-list' of Conservative parliamentary candidates ahead of the next general election. On 18 November 2006, the Thirsk and Malton Conservative Association chose McIntosh over Greenway as their candidate for the next general election.

Following an inquiry by Sir Thomas Legg into parliamentary expenses, Anne McIntosh was asked to repay £948. In her statement, she welcomed the lead in expenses reform from David Cameron, despite being one of only 21 Conservative MPs to vote against expenses reform on 4 July 2008. She had not provided "proof" to support her claims for £621 rent/mortgage from 2000 to 2006. Her expenses claim for May 2009 included a telephone bill in the name of her husband, the same file showing receipts for claims on 8 and 12 April 2008 for cleaning fluid close to properties which are shown under her entry in the Register of Members' Interests, and 90 minutes from her "second" home for expenses purposes. Previous claims included car repairs, claimed for July 2007 and hire cars, use of which was specifically prohibited by the Green Book which might be expected to be covered by her mileage allowance of £3,677 claimed in that year whilst enjoying free RAC breakdown cover. During the previous financial year she also claimed for car insurance and MOT.

Following the death of UKIP candidate John Boakes, the 2010 election in Thirsk and Malton was delayed until 27 May, some three weeks after the rest of the country. McIntosh won, returning to Parliament, with a majority of 11,281.

After the 2010 election, McIntosh was elected Chair of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee. She was also elected Chair of the all-party parliamentary groups on Denmark, South Africa, Water, Floods and Environmental Quality.

As Chairman of the EFRA Committee, McIntosh has worked on; the EU Council Directive on the Welfare of Laying Hens, EU Common Fisheries Policy, the Farming in the Uplands Report and the CAP after 2013 report.

In 2010/11, McIntosh has been campaigning for the reopening of Ryedale Ward at Malton Hospital following its temporary closure as part of a pilot scheme. McIntosh secured an Adjournment debate in the House on 17 November 2010 on the decision-making processes for closing hospital wards, where she highlighted the case of Ryedale Ward. In the run up to the budget, McIntosh campaigned for both a fair fuel stabilizer and a remote rural fuel duty rebate for North Yorkshire. McIntosh secured a debate, which took place on Tuesday 15 February, on introducing a potential fuel duty stabilizer and rebate for remote rural areas.

McIntosh is extremely concerned about the safety of residents living along the A64 and she has been campaigning for better road safety and road speed calming measures in villages like Rillington, East Heslerton and West Heslerton.