A TORY minister has been forced to make a grovelling apology after she labelled towns and cities in the north of England as “godawful”.
Heather Wheeler, the Conservative MP for South Derbyshire and a parliamentary secretary for the Cabinet Office, made the “clueless and offensive” comment while at a conference in London.
Wheeler told attendees she “was just at a conference in Blackpool or Birmingham or somewhere godawful”.
The comments sparked outrage, with Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner accusing her of “utter contempt”.
Rayner added: "The level of disrespect is off the scale. It's frankly embarrassing that she is still in her position as a minister."
Blackpool Council leader Lynn Williams said the comments had made her "quite cross".
Williams told the BBC: "People love Blackpool. Maybe she needs to come and have a look round and enjoy the world-famous illuminations on our beautiful promenade.
"We know we've got a lot of social inequalities to deal with and we're actually meant to be working with the Government to deal with those as part of the levelling up programme, so ... it's just frustrating."
In an apology issued on Twitter, Wheeler said her comments had not reflected her actual view.
She said: “Whilst speaking at a conference on Thursday, I made an inappropriate remark that does not reflect my actual view.
"I apologise for any offence caused."
The UK Conservative Party held their conference in Blackpool in March. It saw Boris Johnson make headlines after he compared fighting the Ukraine war to Brexit.
