Jim Shannon

Jim Shannon sat in the Northern Ireland Assembly from 1998, and before that had been a councillor in his current constituency. Shannon is one of the UK’s highest-contributing MPs, speaking in hundreds of debates and voting in around 90 per cent of divisions. Shannon has explained his impressive attendance record as coming from a “workaholic” attitude and a desire to support colleagues speaking on issues that are typically poorly attended. These are often regional issues of the type that the Northern Ireland MP himself addresses on behalf of his constituents. In his substantial voting record, Shannon is notable for being a steadfast Brexiter and an advocate of the pro-Brexit campaign Leave Means Leave. In 2015, Shannon became the shadow DUP spokesman on both health and human rights. Speaking in a House of Commons adjournment debate on Netflix, Shannon referred to claims by Dame Margaret Hodge of alleged tax avoidance by the company as “simply disgraceful” and called for the government to “ensure that big business has to pay a reasonable rate of tax.”