Efra chair McIntosh deselected

Anne McIntosh, chair of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee (EFRA), has been deselected by her local party after a vote by the Conservative Association in her Thirsk and Malton constituency.

The MP has been in a long-running dispute with the chair of her local party association and the executive committee of the voluntary body voted to de-select her last year.

McIntosh said: “I’d like to thank all those who supported me throughout, from both Vale of York and Thirsk and Malton.

“It is my intention to stand for Thirsk, Malton and Filey constituency at the next General Election.

“Meanwhile I remain committed to the Conservative Party locally and nationally and shall continue with my constituency and parliamentary duties with my customary passion.”

During her tenure as chair of the select committee McIntosh was responsible for scrutinising the water industry and its regulators.

She has become the first female Tory MP in modern history to be sacked by her local party.

Writing in Utility Week in November, McIntosh called for the “urgent reform of the water industry”.

Responsible for scrutinising the Water Bill as it makes its passage through parliament, the MP had criticised the government’s failure to address abstraction reform in the bill.

Under her leadership the select committee also called for more ambitious targets to be set to increase levels of water metering and highlighted how bad debt in the water sector adds around £15 to each household’s water bill every year.

McIntosh said it “was disappointing that the Government has so far failed to introduce the provisions relating to bad debt in the Flood and Water Management Act 2010”.

While welcoming the government’s commitment to opening the retail market in 2017 McIntosh also expressed disappointment that water companies are not able to opt out of competition as the Bill currently stands.