Penny Mordaunt mocked the SNP in the Commons today as she joked the party was behind a farcical Willy Wonka experience in Glasgow.
The event last weekend hit the headlines which was cancelled just hours in after children were left in tears with the police attending following complaints.
The Commons Leader quipped that she believed the nationalists, who are facing a police probe into their finances, had put the attraction due to its “high cost, poor return, and the fact that the police were called”.
She was responding to SNP business spokesman Richard Thomson who raised the revelation that taxpayers paid £15,000 to cover damages paid to an academic that Science Secretary Ms Donelan had falsely accused of supporting Hamas.
Speaking at Business Questions this morning, Ms Mordaunt said: “I think it is rather cheeky of (Richard Thomson) to seek to lecture us about use of public funds – I refer him to what I said about the Secretary of State for Science earlier on – the SNP are legendary in this respect.
“I had wrongly assumed actually that the appalling Willy Wonka experience in Glasgow had been laid on by the SNP, given its high cost, poor return, and the fact that the police were called.
“But the presence of a bouncy castle put patent to that theory, given that bouncy castles have been banned by SNP local authorities on health and safety grounds.”
Ms Thomson had criticised Ms Donelan who is facing calls to resign and to pay the cost of settling the libel action against her herself.
He said: “So could we have a debate on the limits of privilege and specifically whether it’s the policy of the Government that ministers can say whatever they like outside of Parliament and they will be financially indemnified from the consequences of doing so by the taxpayer.
“And whether she considers that it’s now the job of the taxpayer to underwrite financially the Conservative party’s culture wars whenever they overstep the mark.”
Willy’s Chocolate Experience, inspired by Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory book, was billed as “the place where chocolate dreams become reality”.
But families, who paid up to £35 a ticket, were left disappointed by the sparsely decorated warehouse.
The event was brought to a halt midway through following a backlash from those who had already arrived, while some who came later were unable to get in.
Organisers House of Illuminati apologised to customers for the “very stressful and frustrating day” and has promised full refunds.
