New MP works Christmas Day shift ‘to give the lads a break’
THE newly elected Conservative MP for Redcar will still be working as a chemical process operator on Christmas Day because he does not want to let down his former colleagues.
Jacob Young, 26, said he was “totally taken by surprise” when he won the Labour stronghold after overturning a 9,485 majority.
Despite being elected, he said he did not want to cancel his Christmas shift as it would be unfair on other workers.
Mr Young told The Daily Telegraph: “I don’t mind working Christmas, I’ve worked and trained in the chemical industry for the last nine years and working Christmas is something you just have to come to terms with.”
He added: “The shifts are rotated so you don’t tend to work Christmas twice in a row. I felt it was only fair to do my rostered shifts this year and make sure that the other lads got a break.”
Mr Young earlier told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “I should have been working a three-month notice but my employer has been really generous and said I can leave any time.
“But if I didn’t do Christmas Day I’d be dropping the lads at work in it.”
He previously contested the seat in 2015. This month he beat Anna Turley, the incumbent Labour MP, gaining a 3,527 majority and winning Redcar for the Tories for the first time since the constituency’s creation in 1974.
Mr Young told The Telegraph: “We felt the election was close, but all the polling said Labour would hold the seat, including the exit poll. It wasn’t until we got to the count that it became clear what was happening. All I could think of was how I felt standing in that hall four years ago, when I came fourth in Redcar, to today – it was a very humbling experience.”
Boris Johnson highlighted the way the Tories had “turned Redcar bluecar’ when describing his victory.
Mr Young said last night: “It means a lot to me because, as someone who grew up in Teesside, lived and worked here all my life, I couldn’t have imagined this moment.”