Politics

‘Non-doms, not condoms!’: Labour MP’s tussle with voter goes viral

An interaction between the Labour MP for East Hull and a local voter has been making the rounds on social media, with people dubbing it one of the funniest exchanges of the election.

Karl Turner will contest the North East constituency for the fifth time at the July 4th General Election, with the outlook looking notably more favourable than it did in 2019.

Labour is 1/9 favourites to take the seat with the bookies, with long odds on the Conservatives (20/1) to pull off what looks like a near-impossible victory.

The threat of Reform UK suggests Rishi Sunak’s party could be pushed into third place in East Hull, mimicking the threat of a historic defeat on the national stage.

But the contest hasn’t been all plain sailing for Turner, who had to alley the concerns of one voter during a recent walk about.

Speaking to the Guardian, Turner said: “We met a guy who said he was going to vote Labour but wouldn’t now because he had just heard that we were taxing condoms.

“I said, ‘condoms?’ ‘Yeah,’ he said: ‘I just heard on that [pointing to the TV] that you are taxing condoms, and I’m not having it. You’re not getting my vote.’ It was Terence [Turner’s parliamentary assistant] here who worked it out.

“‘We’re taxing non-doms, not condoms,’ I said. ‘Oh,’ he said. ‘Like the prime minister’s wife? Ah.’ He calls out: ‘Margaret: they’re taxing non-doms, not condoms.’”

Related: ‘Labour Party member’ arrested in Westminster honeytrap probe

Jack Peat

Jack is a business and economics journalist and the founder of The London Economic (TLE). He has contributed articles to VICE, Huffington Post and Independent and is a published author. Jack read History at the University of Wales, Bangor and has a Masters in Journalism from the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

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