LETTER: MP is putting Mansfield on the front page, not on the map

For the majority of unemployed people, being out of work is not a lifestyle choice.

Bracket them all together, though, and it becomes their fault.

Suddenly, in my view, the “salt of the earth” have collectively come to be regarded as the “scum of the earth” and blame can neatly be deflected away from government by setting working class people against each other.

The threats he has received are a sad reflection on our society, but many public sector workers face verbal and physical abuse and death threats on a daily basis. 
However, Ben’s view was they are “so lost in their own fantasyland they can’t see how good they’ve got it” and suggested if they are not happy, they should quit.

Well, that’s exactly what more than 29,000 nurses and midwives who felt undervalued and underpaid did in the 12 months ending September 2017, helping fuel the crisis we now have in the NHS.

His comments did not end with unemployed or public sector workers, they extended to law enforcement.

While no-one condones rioting, he posted a picture of a water cannon and said he was looking forward to seeing the police play “splat the chav”. Given the number of privately educated teenagers arrested, he could have said “splat the toff”, but that would not have fit his narrative.

Ben has now been charged with encouraging young people to join his party. 
Good luck to him with that, young Tories tend, in my view, to have extreme views and in the past the brand has become so toxic that both William Hague and David Cameron have had to disband youth wings of the party.

In my view, Ben’s extreme views lay bare the arrogance and contempt for the general public by a party referred to by their own leader as the nasty party.

He said he wanted to put Mansfield on the map, well he’s certainly put us on the front pages of national newspapers, but for all the wrong reasons.

Paul Bradshaw

Mansfield Labour Party