At the general election of 2010 she retained her seat with an increased majority, despite a 3.75% swing to the Liberal Democrats.[3] She then increased her majority in 2015 to 12,732 votes, picking up some votes from the Liberal Democrats as part of the collapse of that party's support nationwide.[4]
At the snap general election of 2017, Main received 43% of the vote, Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat) received 32%, Kerry Pollard (Labour) received 23% and Jack Easton (Green Party) received 2%. UKIP declined to stand a candidate in recognition of Main's eurosceptic views.[5] She became Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Bangladesh, and served on a number of Select Committees;[6] in addition she became a member of the Panel of Chairs. At the 2016 EU Referendum, Main campaigned for a "Leave" vote.[7]
Main commenced a career as a novelist after the end of her political career, and by August 2024 had published eleven novels about life in South Wales, UK set around the middle of the twentieth century.[12]
Expenses
Main was investigated by The Daily Telegraph in May 2009 for claiming a second home allowance and a council tax discount for an apartment for a constituency home, which was also lived in full-time and rent-free by her daughter.[13] On 26 June 2009, it was reported that she would face a Parliamentary inquiry into these allegations under John Lyon, the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, following a formal complaint thought to be from a constituent.[14]
In February 2010, Lyon concluded that the public should not have been expected to meet living costs for Main's daughter, and Main was ordered to repay £7,100 (being £2,100 wrongly claimed for food, along with an additional £5,000 to reflect the daughter's use of the flat), and to provide a written apology to the committee.[15][16][17] Main had argued the Fees Office had told her it was permissible for her daughter to share the second home.
Main claimed £22,000 a year for a second home, despite being able to commute both from her taxpayer-funded flat in St Albans, 26 miles from Westminster, or from her family house in Beaconsfield, 31 miles from Westminster.[18]
Concerns raised in connection with her parliamentary expenses resulted in an attempt by the local St Albans Conservative Association to deselect her, with a local party vote led by the association's chairwoman, Seema Kennedy, a future Member of Parliament who served as the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Immigration under Boris Johnson.[19][20][21][22] On 13 August 2009, the local association voted by a large margin (140 to 20 according to some sources[23]) to retain Main as its candidate for the forthcoming general election, which had to be held before 3 June 2010.
Personal life
Main lives with her family in Bourne End. She married her first husband Stephen Tonks in 1978, and they had a son and two daughters. Stephen Tonks died of cancer aged 34. In 1995 she married Andrew Main, a company director, with whom she had a fourth child.[24]
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