Andrew Percy - Prospective MP for Brigg & Goole

I am the Conservative candidate for the constituency of Brigg and Goole. The constituency covers a vast area stretching from the former West Riding marshland villages around Goole, to Brigg and the villages of the Lincolnshire Wolds in the east, to the Isle of Axholme in the South where the founder of Methodism John Wesley was born. Brigg and Goole is unusual in that it crosses two counties, East Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire. Having lived all my life in East Yorkshire, and with my Grandma's family coming from North Lincolnshire originally, I am delighted to be standing for election in an area I can genuinely call home. Labour hung on by just 2,800 votes at the last election making this one of the key seats at the next election.

→ Read about Andrew's campaign against Goole Fire Station Cuts and sign the petition.
→ To get in touch with Andrew, visit the Contact page.

Latest blog posts

Snaith, Airmyn and Rawcliffe Campaign Day

Submitted by andrew on Tue, 13/05/2008 - 14:01.

Saturday saw another of our hugely successful campaign days, this time in the Snaith, Airmyn and Rawcliffe Ward. The response from local people was really positive with many uttering the phrase I seem to keep hearing at the moment "I've voted Labour all my life but never again."

I had one guy in Pollington who told me he was really disappointed that he had not ben able to vote on May 1st, there being no local elections in our area, and that the general election 'could not come soon enough.'

We are out every weekend and sometimes during the week too and I am really delighted at the level of support we are receiving - not least from people who have never been involved in local politics before.

If you would like to lend a hand leafletting, canvassing, helping with admin tasks or by attending our social functions please drop me a line. Our volunteer base is growing by the week and I would love to have you on board!

 P.S. The photo only shows those who came for the morning session, we had even more helpers turn up later!!!

Ambulance and Flood Plan Update

Submitted by andrew on Wed, 07/05/2008 - 15:37.

Welcome back to my website which has been down for a couple of weeks. My website is devoted almost purely to local issues in the Brigg and Goole constituency and unlike other sites I could mention, I try to avoid self-indulgent ramblings and concentrate on the issues which are of importance to local residents.

River Trent Flood Catchment Plan

Despite the massive opposition to the above plan locally, the Environment Agency have decided to adopt the plan anywhere having altered the wording only slightly. It is still the aim of the Government Agency to reduce their activities on the Isle of Axholme in the hope of saving money. We will not know exactly what they are proposing until the more detailed strategies have been produced. The only glimmer of hope comes from the fact that the Agency have said that if the detailed strategies bring up new issues they may be willing to reconsider the policy approach adopted for the Isle. We must therefore wait to see what those detailed studies bring forth!

Brigg Ambulance

I attended the recent North Lincolnshire Scrutiny Panel hearing into the proposed changes which frankly did not really do this important issue justice. The Labour Chairman seemed determined to move the meeting on as quickly as possible and so there was little real question of the Ambulance Trust.

The Trust did however confirm that the Brigg Ambulance was being scrapped because of Government reviews and changes.  The Trust obviously have to do as they are told by the Labour Government but it is a shame that once again local people have no real say in these changes.

We have continued collecting signatures for our petition against the scrapping of the ambulance and have been on the streets of Brigg gaining more support. Everyone was so kind to us on the streets and i lost count of the number of people telling me they had had it with the current Government.

Latest news stories

Government Must Act on Cost of Living

Submitted by andrew on Tue, 13/05/2008 - 13:31.

 Andrew Percy is demanding action from Gordon Brown and the Government to deal with the rising cost of living locally. Official figures released today show that inflation has jumped from 2.5% to 3%. Another report today shows that food prices are rising at the fastest pace ever. A survey by independent price comparison site mySupermarket.co.uk shows that -

  • Butter has risen by 60%.
  • Pasta has risen by between 81% and 113%.
  • The cost of a pound of beef mince has risen by about 15%.
  • A loaf of bread is now about 20% more expensive than it was a year ago.

Andrew Percy says, "Anyone who says that the rising cost of living is nothing to do with the Government only has to look at the inflation figures for this month. Those figures show that many of the price rises are as a result of tax rises introduced by Gordon Brown in the budget.

Local people are being hurt by rises food and fuel prices and the only answer coming from Labour is to raises taxes on hard-working people yet further. It doesn't matter where you look, Council Tax, Car Tax or the doubling of the 10p tax rate this Government is making life harder and more expensive for local people.

The news on inflation today coincided with a report by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveys which found that the fall in house prices is the 'worst in 30 years'.

In the modern global economy I accept that the Government can't address every problem but it can at the very least try. Sadly, under Gordon Brown and Labour we have no leadership and instead of showing people that the Government is on their side, our Labour masters have instead decided to cream more money off us all by increasing our taxes!

If ever we needed a change of Government it is now."

Campaign Launched Against 500% Bus Pass Hike

Submitted by andrew on Wed, 09/04/2008 - 13:28.

In their tax-raising Council budget, Labour run North Lincolnshire Council have decided to increase the cost of a student bus pass for post-16 students in North Lincolnshire by a massive 500%.

Andrew Percy and the local Conservatives have launched a campaign against the price hike and have succeeded in gaining the support of many local young people who are outraged by the rise.

Andrew Percy explains, "As you would expect, the local Conservatives have been out on the streets campaigning against Labour's massive increase. We have received very strong support from local sixth form students who share our anger.

Labour are once again punishing our rural communities as it is students from those areas who rely on public transport to access post-16 education. We should be supporting our young people, not making it more expensive to continue their education.

This Labour government has already introduced tuition fees on University students, it now looks as though the Labour Council think that students are a cash cow too. We will continue to fight this unfair charge."