Redcar council leader George Dunning says 'real' working-class MPs are being squeezed out of Parliament

Poloticians with “plumby” accents are squeezing out working class MPs from Parliament, a leading North councillor has warned.

George Dunning, leader of Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council, said “career politicians” with “silver tongues” are being parachuted in ahead of real people in the corridors of power.

Coun Dunning, who worked in the Teesside steel industry for more than 30 years, told the Sunday Sun how he was recently interviewed by a Labour panel of councillors who struggled to understand what he was saying.

“I don’t talk with plumbs in my mouth because I was born and raised as part of a working-class Teesside family,” he said.

“The Labour panel said I tended to raise my voice during debate and this made me difficult to understand.

“Obviously these people didn’t know I spent 30 years or more working in steel and 10 of those with no hearing protection.

“What annoys a lot of us, is, although we are a diminishing breed in steel, chemical and manufacturing, we are still around and we should have adequate representation in Parliament.

“I think it’s a kick in the teeth when members of your own political party struggle to understand why you talk the way you do.

“We’re working people with working-class backgrounds.

“Let’s see more real people in Parliament and not just the increasing breed of career politicians.”

The Teesside council leader is not alone in raising the issue of accent.

Wansbeck MP Ian Lavery, who was born and raised in Northumberland’s Ashington, accused Parliament of being hostile to working-class northerners.

He said: “We’ve got an elite in Westminster which, quite frankly, frightens me.

“They haven’t been anywhere or done anything, and when you’ve got an accent like mine, they think ‘Well, that man doesn’t know too much.”

His Labour colleague, Pat Glass, who represents North West Durham, last year gave her take on the culture within Westminster.

“If they spot a northern accent they start shouting about it to put you off,” she said.

Coun Dunning backed Mr Lavery’s words and credited the Northumberland MP as one of the few “real” working-class politicians in the Houses of Parliament.

“Ian Lavery’s comments hit where it hurts,” said Coun Dunning. “That being the elite class of MPs at Westminster feeling Ian’s blunt words. Then the truth always does, especially when stressing the lack of real people in Parliament.”