Theresa May accused of 'hypocrisy after trying to airbrush referendum record'

Prime Minister Theresa May delivers a speech during a visit to the Portmeirion factory in Stoke-on-Trent
REUTERS
WEST END FINAL

Get our award-winning daily news email featuring exclusive stories, opinion and expert analysis

I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.

Theresa May was accused of “utter hypocrisy” today for appearing to airbrush her own record of trying to reverse a previous referendum.

In a draft of today’s speech, released by No 10, she claimed the result of the 1997 Welsh referendum was “accepted by both sides”, despite only being carried by a 0.3 per cent majority.

But there was outcry on Twitter as users recalled she and other Tories voted against the Welsh verdict in Parliament. When in Stoke, Mrs May altered her speech to say the result was “accepted by Parliament”, glossing over her bid to change history.

Mrs May was among 144 MPs who backed an amendment to sabotage the Government of Wales Bill.

Alongside her in trying to reverse the Welsh referendum result were Brexiteers Liam Fox, John Redwood, Iain Duncan Smith, Owen Paterson, Bernard Jenkin and John Whittingdale. Labour MP Jo Stevens said the development exposed “utter hypocrisy from the PM”.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in

MORE ABOUT