Andrea Jenkyns

Born and raised in Yorkshire, Andrea Jenkyns has had a diverse career: she worked at Greggs, as a music tutor, a retail store manager and later as an international business development manager for an executive management training company. Following this, Jenkyns studied politics at Lincoln University. Jenkyns was a Lincolnshire County councillor from 2009 to 2013. In 2015, she dramatically unseated Ed Balls, then-shadow chancellor, by a margin of 422 votes. Following her election, she joined the health and social care select committee. Jenkyns voted Leave in 2016 and joined the committee on exiting the European Union. In 2017, Jenkyns became PPS in the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. She left the government in 2018 to air her frustrations on government handling of Brexit, and called for Theresa May to resign. Jenkyns has been deputy chairwoman of the ERG since 2019. She is a vegetarian and supporter of animal rights. Jenkyns is opposed to the sugar tax, suggesting instead “better education, labelling and parental responsibility”. In 2019, she was criticised for two gaffes about EU trade deals, displaying a lack of knowledge about WTO terms. She is married to fellow MP Jack Lopresti.