Tameside MP Angela Rayner has described the Prime Minister as ‘terminally out-of-touch’ after it was reported he used taxpayers’ money to fly to Blackpool in a private jet.
Boris Johnson visited the seaside town last Thursday (June 9) to give a speech at Blackpool and The Fylde College. During the appearance, he spoke of his plans for levelling up and to help first-time house buyers.
He also made a series of promises over cost-of-living measures as he mentioned plans to tackle "increases in the cost of food, the spooling digits on the petrol pumps, energy bills growing seemingly ever larger".
He promised to “get on with the mission on which this Government was elected and unite and level up across the country” and he outlined plans to shutter ticket offices in railway stations across the country.
The Mirror reported that the Prime Minister, who has spoken about environmental concerns, snubbed a three-hour train for the visit instead opting for his luxury government plane. Aviation records show the PM’s Airbus A321 from London’s Stanstead Airport to Warton Aerodrome in Lancashire on Thursday morning - and back again in the afternoon.
The trip came just days after the Government scrapped a Northern link to HS2 and as Grand Central Railways announced it was axing plans to offer a direct route between Blackpool and London in 2020, saying changes to travel patterns due to Covid-19 had made them “unfeasible.”
The reports of Boris Johnson’s plane trip to Blackpool came on the same day as Government minister Helen Wheeler branded Blackpool “god awful” at an event to launch the government’s new digital strategy. Going off-script, she told an audience: “I was just at a conference in Blackpool or Birmingham or somewhere godawful.”
She later apologised for the comments saying what she had said was 'clueless and offensive', after Blackpool's council leader said Wheeler's initial statement was “ignorant” and “ill-advised”.
Ashton-under-Lyne MP and Labour Party Deputy Leader Angela Rayner condemned Boris Johnson’s Blackpool trip by saying: “While a Tory Minister was insulting Blackpool as “godawful”, Boris Johnson was jetting in on taxpayers’ money, skipping the train and dodging voters during a botched relaunch of his doomed premiership.
“This is a terminally out-of-touch Prime Minister who behaves like he’s on another planet and forces taxpayers to pay their hard-earned money for his privilege, all while the cost of living crisis bites.”
About the travel arrangements, a Downing Street spokesperson said: “All travel decisions are made with consideration for security and time restraints. We recognise the importance of better connections to Blackpool and we are working to evaluate how best to improve infrastructure.”
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