Percy was born in Hull and brought up in Humberside, the son of a foundry worker and a school secretary; he has an older sister. He attended the all-boys comprehensive William Gee School and is a politics graduate of the University of York and studied at Leeds University on a law conversion course. He subsequently worked as a secondary school history teacher and has taught in several schools, including in the United States and Canada. Before being elected to Parliament at the 2010 general election, he served as a parish councillor for Airmyn, near Goole, and from 2000 to 2010, as a councillor for the Bricknell ward on Hull City Council. During his time on the City Council Percy served as Chairman of the Licensing Committee, overseeing the transfer of liquor licensing from the Magistrates' Court to the Council. He also served as a Director of Kingstown Works Ltd. He contested the Yorkshire seat of Normanton in 2005, but was ultimately unsuccessful in defeating the sitting Labour MP, Ed Balls.
Percy was re-elected at the 2015 general election. In the same year, he was also re-elected to the Health and Regulatory Reform committees in the 2015 Parliament. He also served as chairman of the All Party Yorkshire and North Lincs Group and as an officer of a number of other All Party Parliamentary groups, including Financial Education for Young People, The Commonwealth and on Global Education. He is a member of the All Party Parliamentary Group on British Jews. Percy was elected to the UK Commonwealth Parliamentary Association Executive in 2015 and was also appointed to the Speaker's Panel of Chairs. At a sitting in the House of Commons in April 2016, he asked Conservative Leader of the House Chris Grayling if he agreed that the government should bring forward proposals to ensure ex-police officers standing as police and crime commissioner candidates should be required to make their public service records available for public scrutiny. Although Percy did not identify any individual PCC candidate, Grayling did in his reply. He said: "My Honourable Friend makes an important point. I am aware of allegations about the Labour PCC candidate in Humberside. If the stories alleged about that candidate are true, he is unfit for public office, and it is a matter of public interest that the truth should be known before election day." Percy and Grayling subsequently refused to elaborate on the content of any such allegations. Percy quit Twitter several days later, citing "bullies", "trolls", "nastiness" and "aggression" as reasons for doing so. After Theresa May became Prime Minister in 2016, Percy was appointed to be the Parliamentary Undersecretary of State and Minister for Local Growth and the Northern Powerhouse.
Third term
Following the general election held on 8 June 2017, Andrew Percy was, again, re-elected as the Member of Parliament for Brigg and Goole with an increased majority of 12,363, an increase from 2015 of 7.4%. Percy announced that he would not return as Parliamentary Undersecretary of State and Minister for Local Growth and the Northern Powerhouse, stating that he wished to return to the backbenches. It was announced in September 2017, that Percy would be the Prime Minister's Trade-Envoy to Canada, a newly created role. On 22 July 2019, Percy resigned from the Trade Envoy role in protest over Liam Fox's planned no-deal policy that he believes would threaten the UK's annual £800 million business with Canada, attacking what he called the "cack-handed" proposal to scrap or slash tariffs on almost all imports blaming it for Ottawa's refusal to give the UK its existing deal with the EU. On 13 May 2020, Andrew Percy was absent from a vote on Agriculture Bill — New Clause 2 — International trade Agreements: Agricultural and Food Products — Compliance with UK and Word Trade Organisation Standards. When challenged by a member of his constituency he is reported as saying "there was no particular reason for not voting on that amendment". When pressed for an explanation from his farming constituent, Percy refused to expand. Percy participated in three other votes on the same day.
Personal life
Percy converted to Judaism in March 2017, having been baptised into the Church of England. He has identified with the Jewish community since primary school.
