Penny Mordaunt claims Scotland is plagued by 'Victorian diseases and rat infestations'

Penny Mordaunt has raised concerns about the resurgence of Victorian diseases in “certain cities” in Scotland and a rat infestation.

Sharing her insights from her visits to Scotland over the summer, the Commons leader expressed her shock at the reappearance of rickets, a disease often associated with Victorian slums.

She also told MPs the rat infestation in Glasgow has become so severe that binmen struggle to access certain streets.

Her comments were in response to SNP Commons leader Deidre Brock, who questioned the frequency of Mordaunt’s visits to Scotland, humorously noting: “Two visits in one year, it must be a record for a Tory minister”.

Mordaunt spoke at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe last month.

Brock said during business questions: “The Leader of the House called me delusional when I pointed out to her previously Scotland’s faster economic growth, lower unemployment and lower rates of child poverty than the rest of the UK, when I told her that not a single day in the Scottish NHS has been lost to industrial dispute, and that we have the best paid teachers in the UK.

“So can I ask her the next time she comes back from a day trip to Scotland, can we have a debate on what she learned from us?”

Mordaunt replied: “She invites me to tell this House what I’ve learned in my very pleasant trips to Scotland over the summer.

“I did learn that Scotland has slower economic growth than England.

“I was shocked to learn that Victorian diseases have actually returned to certain cities in Scotland such as rickets.

“That Glasgow’s rat problem is now so bad, it is precluding binmen actually accessing certain streets because it’s too dangerous for them.

“I discovered that the bill to Scottish taxpayers of the smelting business debacle stands at £32m.

“I discovered that £33m that was ringfenced for Scottish farmers has gone AWOL…”

The Commons Leader accused the SNP of being “never short of a grievance”, noting: “It is now running out of excuses.”

She went on: “I look forward to next week what those excuses might be, the execution of Mary Queen of Scots, the Highland Clearances, the 100 Years War.

“The grotesque chaos and appalling public services her constituents are suffering from and the rest of the Scottish people are entirely down to the SNP alone.

“They are now a sad, spent force and no longer the UK separatist party.

“That dubious honour now goes to the Labour Party in Wales.”