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A Tory MP said a tweet sent to someone asking about sick pay which read "get a life" was not meant to be shared to them.

Pauline Latham, who has represented mid Derbyshire since 2010, wrote the post on Saturday.

Another user on Twitter said: "Hi @Pauline_Latham, is £94 a week SSP [statutory sick pay] is enough to live on [sic]? How could you manage it?"

A post from Ms Latham, 72, then said: "Get a life."

This prompted a backlash online, with her beginning to trend on Twitter due to the row.

However, she told the Standard the tweet "wasn’t in relation to that post".

"It was a general tweet or meant to be," she told the Standard.

"I don’t usually do twitter because my office post for me as I’m not techie."

She said it had meant to be aimed at "the regular keyboard warrior who should have better things to do than harangue MPs".

"I don’t normally do twitter at all," she added.

She later tweeted: "I am entirely sympathetic towards those in receipt of statutory sick pay, particularly in this stressful time."

In a further comment shared to the Standard, she said: "I must apologise for the Tweet to a constituent at the weekend. At the time, I was in Spain in a state of distress, having just visited my brother who is suffering from acute dementia.

"Very sadly, we could not bring him home to the UK because of Coronavirus. At this time of great stress, I received a Tweet from what I perceived to be a keyboard warrior and it pushed me over the edge. I am very sorry I reacted so hastily."

The issue of sick pay has been raised as a talking point due to the potential of people taking time off work amid the coronavirus outbreak.

The process of receiving the pay has been sped up in a bid to ensure those who need to quarantine do so without that causing hesitation.

The Standard has contacted the Conservative Party for comment.