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Charles Gray

Liz Truss slammed for remark about where she grew up in Leeds

A claim by the Foreign Secretary Liz Truss that Roundhay is in the "heart of the Red Wall" has been labelled "laughable".

The affluent area in the north-east of Leeds has an average house price of £335,301 and was a Conservative seat between 1955 and 1997.

Ms Truss made the remarks in a piece for the Daily Telegraph where she outlined her bid to be the leader of the Tories.

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The Foreign Secretary said: "I grew up in Leeds, at the heart of the Red Wall. I was educated at a comprehensive school in the city and went to primary school in Scotland. I got where I am today through working hard and focusing on results.

"My journey was possible through aspiration, ambition and enterprise."

Ms Truss was grew up in Leeds when her father worked at the University of Leeds and attended Roundhay School. The constituency was a Tory seat during the time that Ms Truss lived there but the seat has been held since then by Labour's Fabian Hamilton.

In response to Mss Truss's comments, Mr Hamilton said: "The suggestion that Roundhay is a red wall area is frankly laughable and shows how out of touch Liz Truss and the Conservatives are when it comes to the north. I became the first Labour MP for the area in 1997.

"Before then, North East Leeds was represented by Conservative MPs and mostly Conservative Local Councillors. But over the past 12 years, the people of Roundhay have strongly rejected the Conservatives at the ballot box time and time again, because they know that only Labour will deliver for them."

Jessica Elgot, chief political correspondent at The Guardian, shared the comments and said: "Sorry but if Roundhay is the Red Wall then words have ceased to have meaning."

Another person joked: "Roundhay, deep in the red wall, besides the shanty towns of Alwoodley and Harrogate, it's a miracle she made it out alive."

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