Tory MP Suggests Free School Meals 'Effectively' Go To Crack Dens And Brothels
A Tory MP has suggested free school meal vouchers for the children in his constituency “effectively” went to crack den and brothel.
Ben Bradley, MP for Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, claimed on Friday evening that one of the kids in his constituency “lives in a crack den” while another “in a brothel” and that extending free school meals would not reach these children.
When one Twitter user responded suggested a ”£20 cash direct to a crack den and brothel” could be “the way forward”, the MP said: “Thats what FSM vouchers in the summer effectively did.”
The conversation has since been deleted from Twitter, but not before it was screenshotted and met with a backlash on social media.
Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayer said the comment was “disgraceful and disgusting”, while Labour MP Jim McMahon said it marked “a new low”.
Bradley later responded to Rayner’s tweet, claiming she had “ignored all context and sense”.
A Conservative MP has said that free school meals are effectively a direct payment to brothels and drug dealers.
Notwithstanding the fact that the vouchers in summer could only be used to purchase food, this stigmatisation of working class families is disgraceful and disgusting. pic.twitter.com/0gvieYM4a9— 🌈 Angela Rayner 🌈 (@AngelaRayner) October 23, 2020
One Labour source told HuffPost UK: “On Wednesday, the Tories were clutching their pearls over ‘unparliamentary language’.
“Tonight, one of their MPs is accusing hungry kids of spending free school meal vouchers on drugs and prostitutes.
“One rule for them, another for everyone else.”
Bradley has been engaged in a public Twitter dispute with the England footballer Marcus Rashford since he and 321 other Tory MPs voted against a motion to extend the free school meals voucher scheme to the half-term and Christmas holidays.
On Wednesday, the MP wrote: ”[Government] has lots of responsibilities: supporting the vulnerable, helping people to help themselves,...
