Yorkshire MP new chair of EFRA committee
6th June 2022
Sir Robert Goodwill, MP for Scarborough and Whitby, has been elected chair of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (EFRA) committee.
Five MPs were nominated for the role, triggering an election between Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown (Cotswolds), Sir Robert Goodwill, Dr Neil Hudson (Penrith and the Border), Anthony Mangnall (Totnes) and Derek Thomas (St Ives).
The new chair of the EFRA committee was elected from the Conservative Party, as agreed by the party leaders following the results of the last general election.
Sir Robert Goodwill will take up his position with immediate effect, and serve to the end of the current parliament.
He said: “I am delighted to have been elected chair of this important committee.
I hope my experience as a working farmer and as a former agriculture minister will mean I can hit the ground running.”
Robert Goodwill was briefly the fisheries minister, being appointed as minister of state for agriculture, fisheries and food in March 2019, after the resignation of George Eustice in protest at the continuing delay in implementing Brexit.
However, he lost the role again in July that year, having supported Jeremy Hunt in the Conservative leadership election. Winning candidate Boris Johnson dismissed him and reappointed George Eustice to the role.
The EFRA committee election followed the resignation of former chair Neil Parish as an MP on 4 May, following his admission that he had been watching pornography on his phone in the House of Commons.
This story was taken from the latest issue of Fishing News. For more up-to-date and in-depth reports on the UK and Irish commercial fishing sector, subscribe to Fishing News here or buy the latest single issue for just £3.30 here.
