Following the death of Eric Forth in May 2006, on 3 June 2006 he was adopted as the Conservative candidate for the Bromley and Chislehurst by-election which took place on 29 June 2006. His selection by the local Conservative Association raised eyebrows, as new leader David Cameron had pressed for an "A-List" candidate, to help present Cameron's vision of the new Conservative Party. The Parliamentary constituency forms a part of Neill's London Assembly constituency. He stated at his selection that he would not resign his London Assembly seat as the resultant by-election, which would see around 400,000 voters go to the polls, would be unduly expensive. A few questions were raised about Neill's position as a non-executive director of the North East London Strategic Health Authority, which fell foul of the House of Commons Disqualification Act of 1975. His response was that, because the body was due to be abolished before he would have had the chance to take his seat in Westminster, any such arguments were immaterial. Neill won the by-election by just 633 votes, compared to the 13,342 majority achieved by his predecessor at the 2005 general election. Factors contributing to this were assumed by commentators to include a substantial drop in the turnout, with the drop disproportionally hitting the Conservative vote; the presence of a high-profile UKIP candidate, Nigel Farage – Labour ended up coming fourth, after UKIP; and a campaign by the Liberal Democrats that heavily focused on Neill personally. In his acceptance speech Neill criticised "a minority of candidates" for their ad hominem attacks on him. These included statements regarding Neill's occupations outside his future parliamentary role and the fact that, at that time, he did not live in the constituency, although he has now purchased a house there.
In parliament
In 2008 Neill was made Shadow Local Government Minister and Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party and was assigned the shadow planning brief from January 2009. He was elected as MP for a second term in the May 2010 election and worked as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department of Communities and Local Government until September 2012, when he was named Vice Chairman of the Conservative party for Local Government. Neill's approach to statistics and parliamentary privilege has been questioned by Dr Ben Goldacre. Neill claimed local government could save 20% from all services, based on a management consultant's estimate of how much could be saved from mobile phone bills. On 10 June 2010 Neill answering questions in the House of Commons as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government said, "Those in greatest need ultimately bear the burden of paying off the debt which this country has been left". The Opposition claimed that the north is taking far bigger cuts than the south and this was not challenged by Neill. Neill was re-elected for a third term in May 2015, shortly after which he was elected as Chairman of Parliament's Justice Select Committee. Following the General Election on 8 June 2017, he was returned to this role. Neill was strongly opposed to Brexit prior to the 2016 referendum. On 7 February 2017, along with six other Conservative Members of Parliament, he defied the Party whip and voted in favour of New Clause 110 of the European Union Bill. In December 2017, in the same bill, he voted along with fellow Conservative Dominic Grieve and nine other Tory MPs against the government, and in favour of guaranteeing Parliament a "meaningful vote" on any deal Theresa May agrees with Brussels over Brexit. Neill maintains Legal aid should be more widely available. Neill maintained that cuts to legal aid have gone too far and stated, "The evidence is pretty compelling that changes are needed … We cannot expect people who often have multiple problems in their lives necessarily to be able to resolve such things on their own." Neill was knighted in the 2020 New Year Honours for political service.
Expenses
As of 2008, Neill claims an allowance for a second home outside London, despite his constituency home being only 12 miles from Westminster. A spokesman said that his claims were "in accordance with the rules".
