‘Cowardly’ May under fire for snubbingTV election debate
PRIME Minister Theresa May has been pilloried for refusing to turn up for Wednesday night’s election debate.
Readers have expressed their dismay that the Tory leader did not take part in the landmark debate in the campaign calendar.
People took to social media to point out that benefits recipients can risk sanctions if they fail to turn up for a job interview.
We asked Western Mail readers whether Mrs May was right not to take part in the televised Cambridge debate, which was attended by rivals including Labour Jeremy Corbyn and Plaid Cymru’s Leanne Wood. The response was overwhelmingly negative.
One said: “You can’t have a job interview and not turn up expecting to get the job.”
Others described her no-show as “cowardly”, a “huge error” and “hugely embarrassing”.
Another reader questioned how Mrs May could deal with the leaders “cowardly absentee”.
But Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson took to the airwaves to defend the PM’s decision not to take part.
Mr Johnson said the debate “validated and confirmed” that she was right to stay away.
He said: “It elucidated none of the issues, it was seven people speaking to probably the most left-wing studio audience the BBC has ever brought together.
“It was all the supporters of Plaid Cymru, the Liberal Democrats, the Scots Nats – when you put them together you had this incredible echo chamber for all sorts of leftwing nonsense.”
Home Secretary Amber Rudd, who represented the Conservatives in the debate, which took place just days after the death of her father, gave her own verdict on the event.
She said: “You heard the squabbling and discord of disagreement... You saw the coalition of chaos in action.
“But in the quiet of the polling