A UK government minister has apologized for calling England’s second-largest city and one of the country’s most famous seaside resorts “scary”.
Heather Wheeler mentioned Birmingham and Blackpool during the launch of the government’s new digital strategy on Thursday. According to Chris Middleton, a technology journalist at the start, the junior cabinet minister said: “I just went to a conference in Blackpool or Birmingham or somewhere awful.”
He then said an office worker called him after first reporting Wheeler’s comments, saying it was a joke to break the ice.
Wheeler speaks at an event in London to launch the government’s new digital strategy, the roadmap 2022 to 2025 for the digital future.
Her remarks came the same day as Boris Johnson was in the seaside town of Lancashire on plans to cut taxes and allow people who receive benefits and live in social housing to buy their own homes.
The government is trumpeting the leveling of areas outside London as one of the cornerstones of its political platform since its election in 2019.
However, leaders outside the capital say some promised investment has not been secured and other funds have been directed only to conservative seats.
One of the funding pots affected is for improved bus services in the Red Wall areas, which diverted from the Labor Party to the Conservative Party in 2019 and have a poor level of public transport. In January, however, government documents said funding had been halved from £ 3 billion to £ 1.4 billion.
Among Labor lawmakers criticizing Wheeler’s comments was Deputy Leader Angela Raynor, who tweeted: “The mask has slipped away. This minister spoke about what Boris Johnson’s conservatives really think about our communities behind closed doors. Disrespect is out of scale.
“Heather Wheeler has shown her utter contempt for the electorate.
Lisa Nandi, Secretary of State for Shadow Equalization, Housing and Communities and Wigan MP, tweeted: “They tell us they are leveling the country, but that’s what they really think. They can’t even tell the difference between “Blackpool or Birmingham or something awful.”
Wheeler has been a South Derbyshire MP since 2010 and is parliamentary cabinet secretary. Earlier, she apologized for remarks about gypsies and travelers and was criticized in 2018 when, as homelessness minister, she said she did not know why the number of sleepers had risen sharply.
She apologized on Friday night, tweeting: “While speaking at a conference on Thursday, I made an inappropriate remark that does not reflect my real point of view. I apologize for the insult. “
A cabinet spokesman sent the Guardian to her tweet and did not comment.
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