TO begin this week’s column I congratulate Kevin Hollinrake on his selection as Conservative Parliamentary candidate.

Kevin has all the qualifications to represent the constituency. He was born here, went to Easingwold School and runs Hunters Estate Agents with his brother, Keith.

Besides being a keen sportsman himself, his firm supports many clubs in the area; but most importantly he is a successful businessman and not a professional politician.

While I have no criticism whatsoever of Kevin Hollinrake as our Parliamentary candidate, I still cannot condone the manner in which our present MP Anne McIntosh has been ousted, rather like the unjustifiable dismissal of Owen Paterson.

I was brought up to value family and friendship above most things; and loyalty is a key driver.

Her deselection process last January was unsavoury to say the least, with the Tory hierarchy accused of lobbying if not bullying members to support the party line.

So what has Anne McIntosh done wrong, apart from offend the local headquarters, who reportedly found here “impossible to work with”.

She was first elected for the Vale of York in 1997 winning with a majority of 5,000; and she leaves having doubled her majority to more than 11,000. She was educated at Harrogate Ladies College and Edinburgh University before becoming a barrister.

She served two spells as MEP in Strasburg and is currently chairman of the pre-eminent Parliamentary Committee for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

In the opinion of most in my agricultural industry, EFRA has become a powerful voice, setting up enquiries in to a wide range of matters, including the performance of the RPA, fracking, flooding, our national food security and winter floods.

Under her chairmanship EFRA has become a voice to be heard.

As to her involvement back in the constituency, I for one have found no fault. She has declared her support for the new livestock market at Malton and indeed chaired one of our meetings. She is seen at many local events and only last Sunday attended Huby and Sutton Show to judge the fancy dress.

From the evidence so far in front of my inquiry, she is not the one who has behaved badly and I suspect a lot of like minded rural people will take some persuading not to vote for her if she stands again.

Anne McIntosh magnanimously congratulated Kevin Hollinrake, but reserved her own position to a future date. I think I will do likewise.

 

Fracking bids invited

On Monday the Department for Energy and Climate Change invited the fracking firms to bid for the rights to explore parts of Britain, including the north, the southern coast and the Scottish central belt.

As far as I can see the current map deals with the north west and doesn’t creep over the Pennines but doubtless that will follow in due course.

My main concern is to ensure that damage to agricultural land is properly compensated and as at present the jury is still out.

It is no good having improved our energy security if we lose food production pro-rata.