Tory MP is cleared over BAME Covid comments

CONSERVATIVE ACCUSED COMMUNITIES OF NOT TAKING VIRUS SERIOUSLY ENOUGH

A CALDERDALE MP has been cleared of wrongdoing over his comments on LBC radio that the Muslim and BAME community in Calderdale was not taking the pandemic seriously.

Craig Whittaker, the Conservative Calder Valley MP, found himself under investigation by the Party’s confidential complaints process after he made the comments last July.

However, the Conservative Party’s internal QC-led investigation found no breach of the Party’s Code of Conduct. In the LBC interview, Mr Whittaker said: “If you look at the areas where we’ve seen rises and cases, the vast majority - but not by any stretch of the imagination all areas - it is the BAME communities that are not taking this seriously enough.”

After the interview with LBC, Craig Whittaker posted an explanation to his own blog and was unrepentant in his claims.

He said: “It was not in my view to do with Eid, but that there was evidence locally [within Calderdale - not nationally] to show that in some areas it was evident that the BAME community were not taking this epidemic seriously.” Mr Whittaker claimed that the evidence he based his comments on was provided by Calderdale Council.

“It is self-evident that Calderdale Council has not only identified a causal correlation between the locations of a high concentration of our ethnic Asian residents and that of COVID 19 infections,” he said.

“But has also formed the opinion that behaviour in these areas needs to be addressed through engagement in order to reduce the infection rate in these communities.”

Craig Whittaker has been approached for comment.

It was evident that the BAME community were not taking this epidemic

seriously.