‘Racist’ tweet claims accent is to blame for party’s decline
A Tor y MP from the north of England has been criticised for a “racist” t weet blaming the leader of Scottish Labour’s accent as the reason for the party’s decline.
D e h e n n a D a v i s o n , w h o represents the town of Bisho p A u c k l a n d , n e a r D u r - ham, was lab elled racist by a S NP c o u n c i l l o r a n d c r i t i - cised by her own party for the remark. Posting on Twitter, t h e MP s a i d Ri c h a r d L e o na r d ’s “L a n c a s h i r e a c c e n t ” was the reason for S cottish Labour’s struggles in Scotland.
S h e s a i d : “Wa t c h i n g @ S o p hy R i d g e S k y a n d s h e i s discussing why the Lab our Party isn’t doing well in Scotland. I think I’ve got to the bottom of it… The Scottish Labour Leader... has a broad Lancashire accent. No word of a lie, he sounds like he could be the Speaker’s brother.”
Richard Leonard soon corrected the MP, pointing out his accent is Yorkshire due to his upbringing in north Yorkshire, and said S cotland had been h i s h o me f o r f o u r d e c a d e s after he arrived for university.
He said on Twitter: “I came t o s t u dy a t S t i r l i n g Un ive r - sit y four decades ago. S cotland has been my home ever since. And it’s a broad Yorkshire accent, as it happens.” The remark from Ms Davison was criticised by the Scottish Conser vatives as “unacceptable” who said it played into t h e “d i v i s i ve p o l i t i c s” t h e y argue is promoted by the SNP.
A spokesman for the part y said: “The reason Labour have no credibility or relevance in Scotland, as their own MP Ian Murray has said, has got nothing to do with Richard Leonard’s accent.”