9 Esther McVey controversies after the rainbow disaster

Senior Tory MP Esther McVey made headlines this week after spreading what she believes to be “common sense”.

The politician, from West Derby, has announced how he wants to see rainbow and other colored cords banned from the public service.

The self-proclaimed ‘common sense minister’, 56, said there should be a crackdown on ‘back door’ politicking in Whitehall and this included scrapping certain lanyard designs used to carry security clearances.

READ MORE: The ‘local legend’ cried out after his passport application turned his life upside down

READ MORE: I’m half Italian and was blown away by Liverpool’s new authentic cafe

McVey, the Tory MP for Tatton, used remarks to the Center for Policy Studies to criticize the colored neckcloths earlier this week – to the dismay of many.

However, those who have followed the controversial MP since she represented Wirral West between 2010 and 2015 may not be surprised. This is not the first time that she has done an equality strike for the LGBTQ+ community and other vulnerable communities in our society.

The Liverpool ECHO has rounded up some of the most controversial and divisive things he has said and done during his topsy-turvy political career.

Food banks

Few will forget the infamous moment in 2013 when the then Wirral West MP said he thought it was “right” and “positive” for struggling people to turn to food banks because they couldn’t afford to eat.

She told the House of Commons: “It’s right in the UK that, you know, more people are visiting – which you would expect – going to food banks. Because times are hard, we all have to pay this £1.50. a trillion in personal debt, which spiraled under Labour”.

She added: “The community has come together to support each other – this has to be a positive move.”

Liverpool Wavertree MP at the time, Luciana Berger, said Ms McVey’s response “haunted” her, telling the ECHO: “It was disgraceful and showed absolutely no empathy – I was on the benches going ballistic.”

Food banks again

This topic has landed Tatton MP in hot water a few times.

In 2014, she sparked controversy by claiming there was “no hard evidence” linking the use of food banks to the government’s welfare cuts and austerity agenda.

In a letter, she said: “The increase in food banks predates most of the welfare reforms this government has put in place.”

This was disputed at the time by the Trussell Trust, who said: “All the empirical evidence and research shows that welfare reform is the main force driving demand for food banks.”

Bedroom tax

One of the nastiest policies introduced under the coalition government’s 2010 austerity agenda was the penalty for under-occupancy – or the ‘Bedroom Tax’.

The policy meant that tenants who lived in council housing or social housing with rooms that were deemed vacant faced a reduction in housing benefit. This has resulted in many poorer people falling into rent arrears or being evicted from their homes.

Ms McVey became a champion of the highly controversial policy, arguing that people who stayed in their homes would be “more than happy”.

Benefit sanctions “help” people find work

Further outrage was sparked when Ms McVey defended penalties imposed on benefit claimants for minor mistakes, back in 2015.

She said a committee hearing in 2015: “For people who have been sanctioned, it helps them get into work.”

He misled Parliament on universal credit

In 2018, the then Secretary of State for Work and Pensions had to apologize for misleading Parliament after the head of the National Audit Office (NAO) wrote an open letter complaining that on three occasions he misrepresented to MPs the content of a critical report on Universal. Credit.

McVey told MPs the NAO report said Universal Credit, which was six years behind schedule at the time, should be rolled out faster. The NAO pointed out that it had in fact concluded that it should be discontinued.

Comments on LGBTQ+ relationships

During her failed Conservative leadership bid in 2019, Ms McVey managed to offend another section of society.

Asked whether primary school children should be taught about same-sex relationships, she appeared to sympathize with parents protesting in Birmingham at the time, who said they would pull their children out of school if they discussed it of problems.

The MP said: “I think parents know best for their children. While they are still children – and we are talking primary school (age) – then parents really need to have the final say on what they want their children to know. .”

The comments led to a backlash – including from some of her fellow Tory MPs.

“Phones Over Food”

In 2020, Ms. McVey again antagonized the struggling families.

In an interview with The Times, she referred to the proliferation of food banks and said: “When I was growing up, my parents put money into food, utility bills and mortgages.

“Now that people feel connected, they need to have an iPad and a phone to help them with education and jobs.”

Many people pointed out that some of the benefit policies she had been tasked with enforcing relied on people having access to phones and the Internet to get much-needed financial support.

Using taxpayers’ money

In 2019 it was revealed that the then Tory leadership aspirant had spent nearly £9,000 of taxpayers’ money claiming a personal photographer.

Revealed by The Guardian’s Freedom of Information request, a single receipt showed McVey was billed £750 for five hours’ work on two shoots, including “edits, image processing and travel time”.

The bill came from photographer and PR man Jonathan Farber, who also happened to be a former Tory councilor in McVey Tatton’s constituency.

Ban colored cords

McVey pursued what she called “leftist” academics and theorists as she pitched her stall at the Center for Policy Studies, and in doing so targeted the queer community.

The GB News presenter said in a speech that the public was “relieved that common sense is back on the political agenda so that policies can be rooted back in the practical, day-to-day concerns of ordinary people”.

As part of that “common sense”, she said political views – and consequently rainbow lanyards – should be left at the entrance to the building if you work in the public service.

In the same speech, she dismissed equality and diversity in the workplace as “fashionable hobby horses” and said no more contracts for external diversity spending would be handed out by the government, including to organizations such as Stonewall, the biggest organization for LGBT rights in Europe. .

However, the wearing of rainbow cords was “widely welcomed” at Liverpool Council as the city’s new mayor, Cllr Richard Kemp, hit back at comments made by McVey.

He used his first formal remarks in the role to dismiss Ms McVey’s idea and said the strings were with the Cunard building.

Sign up for a £1,000 Aldi voucher gift and unleash yourself down the aisle

Sign up for the ECHO’s LGBTQIA+ newsletter