Andrew Theakstone Percy (born 18 September 1977
) is a
British Conservative Party
The Conservative Party, officially the Conservative and Unionist Party and also known colloquially as the Tories, is one of the two main political parties in the United Kingdom, along with the Labour Party. It is the current governing party, ...
politician who has served as the
Member of Parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...
(MP) for
Brigg and Goole since
2010
File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...
. He is an active member of many groups in Parliament, including All Party Parliamentary Groups on Financial Education for Young People, Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire as well as being a member of the anti-
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...
Better Off Out
Better Off Out (BOO) is the name of a non-party campaign that called for the United Kingdom (UK)'s withdrawal from the European Union (EU). It is run by The Freedom Association, a pressure group that describes itself as non-partisan, centre-ri ...
Group.
Early life
Percy was born in
Hull and brought up in
Humberside
Humberside () was a non-metropolitan and ceremonial county in Northern England from 1 April 1974 until 1 April 1996. It was composed of land from either side of the Humber Estuary, created from portions of the East Riding of Yorkshire, West ...
, the son of a foundry worker (later a market gardener) and a school secretary; he has an older sister.
He attended the all-boys (11–16) comprehensive William Gee School (now part of
Endeavour High School) and is a politics graduate of the
University of York
, mottoeng = On the threshold of wisdom
, established =
, type = Public research university
, endowment = £8.0 million
, budget = £403.6 million
, chancellor = Heather Melville
, vice_chancellor = Charlie Jeffery
, students ...
and studied at
Leeds University
, mottoeng = And knowledge will be increased
, established = 1831 – Leeds School of Medicine1874 – Yorkshire College of Science1884 - Yorkshire College1887 – affiliated to the federal Victoria University1904 – University of Leeds
, ...
on a law conversion course.
He then worked as a secondary school history teacher in several schools, including in the United States and Canada.
He was subsequently a teacher at an infant school in Scunthorpe.
Before being elected to Parliament at the
2010 general election, he served as a parish councillor for
Airmyn
Airmyn is a village and civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is situated at the mouth of the River Aire with the River Ouse, approximately north-west of Goole. It lies to the west of the M62 motorway and the A614 road. ...
, near
Goole
Goole is a port town and civil parish on the River Ouse in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The town's historic county is the West Riding of Yorkshire.
According to the 2011 UK census, Goole parish had a population of 19,518, an increa ...
,
and from 2000 to 2010, as a councillor for the Bricknell ward on
Hull City Council
(Kingston upon) Hull City Council is the governing body for the unitary authority and city of Kingston upon Hull. It was created in 1972 as the successor to the Corporation of (Kingston upon) Hull, which was also known as Hull Corporation and fou ...
alongside Cllr. John Fareham. During his time on the City Council Percy served as Chairman of the Licensing Committee, overseeing the transfer of liquor licensing from the Magistrates' Court to the council. He also served as a Director of Kingstown Works Ltd. He contested the Yorkshire seat of
Normanton in 2005, but was ultimately unsuccessful in defeating the Labour candidate,
Ed Balls
Edward Michael Balls (born 25 February 1967) is a British broadcaster, writer, economist, professor and former politician who served as Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families from 2007 to 2010, and as Shadow Chancellor of the Exc ...
.
Parliamentary career
Percy was elected to the
House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...
as Member of Parliament for
Brigg and Goole in the
2010 general election by a majority of 5,147.
In the
2015 general election he increased his majority to 11,176, receiving 53 per cent of the vote.
Percy is rated as one of the Conservatives' most rebellious MPs and has voted with Labour on key issues such as
loan sharking
A loan shark is a person who offers loans at extremely high interest rates, has strict terms of collection upon failure, and generally operates outside the law.
Description
Because loan sharks operate mostly illegally, they cannot reasonably ...
,
Education Maintenance Allowance
Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) ( cy, Lwfans Cynhaliaeth Addysg; LCA) is a financial scheme applicable to students and those undertaking unpaid work-based learning in the United Kingdom (except England) and aged between sixteen and nineteen ...
and student
tuition fees
Tuition payments, usually known as tuition in American English and as tuition fees in English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English, are fees charged by education institutions for instruction or other services. Besides public spen ...
.
Percy has been part of a number of delegations of the
Conservative Friends of Israel
Conservative Friends of Israel (CFI) is a British parliamentary group affiliated to the Conservative Party, which is dedicated to strengthening business, cultural and political ties between the United Kingdom and Israel, as well as between the Br ...
group, including during the
Operation Defensive Shield
Operation "Defensive Shield" ( he, מִבְצָע חוֹמַת מָגֵן, ''Mivtza Homat Magen'', literally "Operation Shield Wall") was a large-scale military operation conducted by the Israel Defense Forces in 2002 during the Second Intifada ...
conflict when he visited for an Israeli military briefing on the
Iron Dome
Iron Dome ( he, כִּפַּת בַּרְזֶל, Kippat Barzel) is a mobile all-weather air defense system developed by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and Israel Aerospace Industries. The system is designed to intercept and destroy short- ...
defence system. He defended Israel's actions in the conflict saying "Israel acts as we would", in relation to the provocation faced from
Hamas
Hamas (, ; , ; an acronym of , "Islamic Resistance Movement") is a Palestinian Sunni-Islamic fundamentalist, militant, and nationalist organization. It has a social service wing, Dawah, and a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Bri ...
.
In the 2010 Parliament, Percy served on the Health Select Committee, Regulatory Reform Committee and Northern Ireland Committee.
Second term (2015–2017)
Percy was re-elected at the
2015 general election. In the same year, he was also re-elected to the Health and Regulatory Reform committees in the 2015 Parliament. He also served as chairman of the All Party Yorkshire and North Lincs Group and as an officer of a number of other All Party Parliamentary groups, including Financial Education for Young People, The Commonwealth and on Global Education. He is a member of the All Party Parliamentary Group on British Jews.
Percy was elected to the UK Commonwealth Parliamentary Association Executive in 2015 and was also appointed to the Speaker's Panel of Chairs.
At a sitting in the House of Commons in April 2016, he asked Conservative Leader of the House,
Chris Grayling
Christopher Stephen Grayling (born 1 April 1962) is a British Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party politician and author who served as Secretary of State for Transport from 2016 to 2019. He has served as Member of Parliament (United King ...
, if he agreed that the government should bring forward proposals to ensure ex-police officers standing as police and crime commissioner (PCC) candidates should be required to make their public service records available for public scrutiny. Although Percy did not identify any individual PCC candidate, Grayling did in his reply. He said: "My Honourable Friend makes an important point. I am aware of allegations about the Labour PCC candidate in Humberside. If the stories alleged about that candidate are true, he is unfit for public office, and it is a matter of public interest that the truth should be known before election day."
Percy and Grayling subsequently refused to elaborate on the content of any such allegations. Percy quit
Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
several days later, citing "bullies", "trolls", "nastiness" and "aggression" as reasons for doing so.
After
Theresa May
Theresa Mary May, Lady May (; née Brasier; born 1 October 1956) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2016 to 2019. She previously served in David Cameron's cab ...
became Prime Minister in 2016, Percy was appointed to be the Parliamentary Undersecretary of State and Minister for Local Growth and the Northern Powerhouse.
Third term
Following the
general election held on 8 June 2017, Andrew Percy was, again, re-elected as the Member of Parliament for Brigg and Goole with an increased majority of 12,363, an increase from 2015 of 7.4%. Percy announced that he would not return as Parliamentary Undersecretary of State and Minister for Local Growth and the Northern Powerhouse, stating that he wished to return to the backbenches.
It was announced in September 2017, that Percy would be the Prime Minister's Trade Envoy to Canada, a newly created role.
On 22 July 2019, Percy resigned from the Trade Envoy role in protest over
Liam Fox
Liam Fox (born 22 September 1961) is a British politician who served as Secretary of State for International Trade from 2016 to 2019 and Secretary of State for Defence from 2010 to 2011. A member of the Conservative Party, Fox has served as th ...
's planned
no-deal policy that he believed would threaten the UK's annual £800 million business with Canada, criticising what he called the "cack-handed" proposal to scrap or slash tariffs on almost all imports blaming it for Ottawa's refusal to give the UK its existing deal with the EU.
Fourth term
On 13 May 2020, Percy was absent from a vote on ''Agriculture Bill — New Clause 2 — International trade Agreements: Agricultural and Food Products — Compliance with UK and Word Trade Organisation Standards''. When challenged by a member of his constituency he reportedly said: "There was no particular reason for not voting on that amendment". When pressed for an explanation from his farming constituent, Percy declined to expand. Percy participated in three other votes on the same day.
On 15 September 2020 he was one of two Conservative MPs (together with
Roger Gale) who voted against the
UK Internal Market Bill
The United Kingdom Internal Market Act 2020 is an Act of Parliament, act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed in December 2020. It is concerned with trade within the UK, as the UK is no longer subject to EU law. The act seeks to preven ...
at second reading.
Percy is standing down at the
next general election.
Personal life
Percy converted to
Judaism
Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in the ...
in March 2017, having been baptised into the
Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...
. He has identified with the Jewish community since primary school.
References
External links
Andrew Percy MPOfficial constituency website
Andrew Percy MPConservative Party profile
Yorkshire Conservatives*
Survey replies of political viewsat ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
''
Official channelat YouTube
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Percy, Andrew
1977 births
Living people
Alumni of the University of Leeds
Alumni of the University of York
Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies
Converts to Judaism from Anglicanism
Councillors in the East Riding of Yorkshire
English Jews
Jewish British politicians
Politicians from Kingston upon Hull
UK MPs 2010–2015
UK MPs 2015–2017
UK MPs 2017–2019
UK MPs 2019–present