Copeland Conservative MP Trudy Harrison to stand down at next election

The Conservative MP for Copeland, Trudy Harrison, has said she will stand down at the next general election.

She told ITV Border she doesn't have another job lined up but wants to help deliver on policies like 'levelling up' and net zero locally.

Ms Harrison, 47, won Copeland at a high-profile by-election in February 2017.

She is a junior minister in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Speaking to ITV Border Trudy Harrison said: "I will not be applying for the new constituency which is Whitehaven and Workington, I wouldn’t live in that constituency boundary which is part of the challenge I have.

"Essentially I am a community activist at home and I want to come home and make sure the policies that I have been involved in shaping and making actually reap benefits for people in west Cumbria."

The Copeland constituency is due to be replaced by a new seat of Whitehaven and Workington under final plans drawn up by the independent boundary review which are set to be confirmed in time for the next general election, which is expected in 2024.

Ms Harrison told us she has decided she will not apply to be the Conservative candidate for Whitehaven and Workington.

She has been a close ally of Boris Johnson, serving as his Parliamentary Private Secretary between December 2019 and September 2021, when he was the Prime Minister.

She was also a minister at the Department for Transport between September 2021 and September 2022.

Before entering parliament, she worked at Sellafield, set up a childcare business and worked at Copeland Borough Council.

More than 40 Conservative MPs have announced they will stand down at the next general election - including Alister Jack, the Scottish Secretary and Dumfries and Galloway MP.

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