The leader of the Blackpool council criticized “ignorant and unreasonable” comments by a Tory minister who was forced to apologize after describing the city as “scary”.
Speaking at the launch of the government’s new digital strategy on Thursday, Heather Wheeler, a junior cabinet minister, said he said: “I just attended a conference in Blackpool or Birmingham or somewhere awful.
Wheeler later apologized in a tweet, saying she had “made an inappropriate remark that did not reflect [her] actual view ”.
Labor councilor Lynn Williams said the comments were particularly disappointing, as the government had to work with the Lancashire city to tackle social deprivation as part of its flagship equalization program.
“We know we have a lot of social inequalities to deal with, and we actually have to work with the government to deal with them as part of the equalization program, so yes, it’s just disappointing,” she said.
The transparency of the program, which is a cornerstone of the government’s 2019 platform, has been called into question as leaders outside London say some promised investment has not been received and other funds have gone to Conservative seats.
Appearing on BBC Radio 4’s Today program, Williams said the popular seaside resort was “accustomed to receiving something like ignorant and bad comments” and asked Wheeler to “come and see” herself.
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She said the remarks irritated her, especially after the city hosted the Tories’ Spring Conference in March and the huge increase in visitors over the past two years. “We are doing the right thing. “People love Blackpool,” she said.
Asked about Wheeler’s apology, she seemed unconvinced. “I mean, you said it, you thought it,” she said, adding that making Blackpool and Birmingham at the heart of the joke was “more proof of what real thoughts are.”
Williams joins a number of key voices in her party in criticizing the junior minister’s comments. Deputy Labor leader Angela Raynor wrote on Twitter: “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. “
Lisa Nandi, secretary of state in the shadow of equalization, housing and communities, wrote: “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.”
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