Chichester MP Andrew Tyrie has chosen to stand down at the General Election. He has been Tory MP for Chichester since 1997, but said in a statement today that he had reached the decision after very careful thought.
He said: “I am confident that Theresa May will lead the Conservative party to a decisive victory at the General Election, and will continue to give the country the strong and effective leadership that she has already shown as Prime Minister.
“I remain deeply committed to public service. I am determined, and hopefully young enough, to contribute in other ways in the years ahead.”
Tyrie spoke out recently after the £200 million plans to improve the A27 improvement were controversially scrapped by transport minister Chris Grayling “because of the loss of support of local councils”.
Tyrie said at the time: “We have to try to persuade the Government eventually to return to this. And before we do so, we have to find a solution that can unite the whole community. None of Highways England’s schemes could achieve this. So they lost the confidence of the community.
“My constituents needed to feel confident that their access to the A27 and to nearby roads would be improved, and that local traffic would not end up diverted into the centre of Chichester, aggravating existing problems.
“The appalling congestion in and around Chichester will only get worse. I’ve been fighting for improvements to the A27 for most of my time as an MP. And I will fight on until we find a solution that works for the whole of my constituency.”
Tyrie has led the Treasury Select Committee in a raft of high-profile inquiries into government work, becoming a respected critic of both chancellor Philip Hammond and his predecessor George Osborne.
In his time leading the committee, he has repeatedly called for improvement in banking and regulatory standards in the aftermath of the financial crisis. He claimed the scalp of Charlotte Hogg who resigned from a role at the Bank of England after Tyrie and MPs said she had “fallen short of the very high standards required”.
