Politics
Kate Plummer
May 04, 2021
PA
Tory minister Nadine Dorries has been comprehensively roasted after she made a claim that made little to no sense.
Posting on Twitter, the health minister decided to help the Conservative Party’s campaign in the Hartlepool by-election by celebrating the number of jobs Boris Johnson had created in the area.
.@BorisJohnson has delivered #Brexit #tradedeals and jobs for #Harlepool along with a #Freeport and 180,000 well pa… https://t.co/gycLkH3rWr— Nadine Dorries (@Nadine Dorries) 1620043434
Sound fine? Well the problem is, Hartlepool has a population just shy of 94,000, so the Tories creating two jobs for everyone seems a bit suss – even in an era of zero-hour contracts.
People relished in pointing that out:
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@NadineDorries @BorisJohnson Has Boris personally doubled the population?— Sue Perkins 💙 (@Sue Perkins 💙) 1620056960
With 92,000 residents, the Conservative party have secured almost two jobs for every person in Hartlepool. Anothe… https://t.co/rO75kaVTPf— THE SECRET TORY (@THE SECRET TORY) 1620060883
Meanwhile, another pointed out that she hadn’t even spelled Hartlepool right:
Can't spell the constituency, claims twice as many jobs as residents. Just phoning it in now. https://t.co/vfRpdRAzJw— Steve Peers (@Steve Peers) 1620053540
Ironically, Hartlepool has one of the highest levels of unemployment in the country at around 8.1% and around one in 11 people in the region are currently claiming benefits.
Meanwhile, ministers recently rejected a request for a £170m bailout to pay operating expenses and deal with recent losses at Liberty Steel. The company employs 5,000 workers at sites around the UK and 250 of those are based in, where? You guessed it, Hartlepool.
Angela Rayner, deputy Labour leader, recently criticised the Conservatives after data from the House of Commons Library showed that 3,500 manufacturing jobs have been lost in area in the last decade, with skilled jobs falling by nearly a third and the number of apprenticeship placements dropping by 13 per cent.
All this is to say - Dorries’ claim doesn’t stand up to scrutiny regardless of her doubling #Harlepool’s population.
And people were not thrilled with her:
Define 'well paid' please Nadine? According to your PM, £167k, free housing, and generous expenses aren't enough to… https://t.co/kvGlbxW0rG— Granny LaLa 🟨🟥🇵🇸💙☮️🌱🌍🔆 (@Granny LaLa 🟨🟥🇵🇸💙☮️🌱🌍🔆) 1620058566
Please join me and Nads next month for our new podcast: "Feint by Numbers" where we'll cover topics such as claimin… https://t.co/zbzHXzyIvh— Not Andrea Jenkyns MP (@Not Andrea Jenkyns MP) 1620051766
The by-election takes place on 6 May. By Dorries’ logic perhaps the constituents will be able to elect two MPs.
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