EXCL Labour MP slams ‘misogynistic’ Tory MP over ‘gorgeous EU women’ remark

Agnes Chambre

A Labour MP has accused a Tory backbencher of being “misogynistic and patronising”, after he urged young people to try and find work alongside "gorgeous EU women".



Speaking at a fringe event at the Conservatives' conference, Craig Mackinlay said young unemployed Brits should "get on their bikes" and pursue farm work like their European counterparts.

He was speaking amid concerns that Brexit could lead to the supply of foreign labour in the agricultural sector drying up.

The South Thanet MP said: “I was struggling to think why wouldn't a youngster from Glasgow without a job come down to the south to work for a farm for the summer with loads of gorgeous EU women working there?”

He added: "What's not to like? Get on your bike and find a job."

However Labour MP Seema Malhotra told PoliticsHome that Mr Mackinlay's comments were unsuitable for a "modern, diverse and tolerant society".

"Mr. Mackinlay’s comments are misogynistic and patronising. It is attitudes like this that do not belong in a modern, diverse and tolerant society that the UK is. I hope that he will retract this statement and show far more respect to workers and to young people."

The Tory backbencher, who famously pipped Ukip leader Nigel Farage to his seat at the 2015 general election, also said young Brits should up sticks to find employment in the same way low-skilled workers in Eastern Europe do.

"We need to mobilise our core of unemployed to say there is a job there for me, let's go and get it just as the very well-motivated Bucharest youngster gets a coach across Europe to find a job," he said.