A CONSERVATIVE MP has sparked fury on Twitter after apparently suggesting that vouchers given to feed school children over the summer holidays “effectively” handed cash directly to “crack dens and brothels”.
Ben Bradley, who represents the English constituency of Mansfield, reportedly made the comments after posting about how Labour’s free school meals motion wouldn’t have helped those most in need.
The MP tweeted a thread which began: “At one school in #Mansfield 75% of kids have a social worker, 25% of parents are illiterate. Their estate is the centre of the area's crime. One kid lives in a crack den, another in a brothel.
“These are the kids that most need our help, extending #FSM [free school meals] doesn't reach these kids.”
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He goes on: “There is no sense whatsoever in pretending to ourselves that just giving 1.4m kids free meals in hols fixes things.
“Many kids don't need it, and many in genuine need won't benefit from it due to extreme lives and problems. To be effective, we have to be more personal and local.”
Someone with the Twitter handle “tryinmybestest” replied to Bradley, saying: “£20 cash direct to a crack den and brothel really sounds like the way forward with this one …”
According to screenshots, the Conservative MP directly replied to this, saying: “That’s what FSM vouchers in the summer effectively did …”
Bradley has now deleted the tweet.
Commenting, Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner said: “A Conservative MP has said that free school meals are effectively a direct payment to brothels and drug dealers.
“Notwithstanding the fact that the vouchers in summer could only be used to purchase food, this stigmatisation of working class families is disgraceful and disgusting.”
However, Bradley has now denied he meant to suggest that, saying that Rayner had “ignored all context and sense”.
He added: “If the context is not clear, I will clarify, but thats 100% NOT what I've said.”
He has so far failed to clarify.
READ MORE: Pubs and cafes step in after Tories reject Marcus Rashford's school meals campaign
The Mansfield MP is also chair of the Blue Collar Conservatives, a group of Tory MPs who identify as working class.
Bradley attended Derby Grammar School. A private institution which currently charges up to £14,233 per student per year.
He has previously come under fire for suggesting that benefit claimants should have vasectomies to prevent them having more children.
In a 2012 blog post, the now-MP wrote: “Sorry but how many children you have is a choice; if you can't afford them, stop having them! Vasectomies are free.
"Families who have never worked a day in their lives having four or five kids and the rest of us having one or two means it's not long before we're drowning in a vast sea of unemployed wasters that we pay to keep!"
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