A FORMER County Durham MP has divided opinion on social media after taking aim at the upcoming Queen’s Jubilee – branding the celebration as “grossness” and claiming the Queen has “unaccountable wealth”.

Laura Pidcock, who was the North West Durham Member of Parliament between 2017 and 2019, before losing her seat to the Conservative’s Richard Holden, took to Twitter on Thursday (May 26) to express her distaste at the Jubilee events later this month.

While numerous people will be holding community gatherings, street parties and attending official Jubilee events next weekend, which will also see bank holidays on Thursday and Friday, Ms Pidcock took exception to people choosing to celebrate 70 years of the Queen.

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Posting on the social media site, the former MP and current national secretary of The People’s Assembly, highlighted that it is a tough time for people, and celebrating a monarch with 70 years of “unadulterated, unaccountable wealth, privilege, power and exploitation” wouldn’t be the best plan.

Her full post read: “I just feel like there is a real grossness to the state driven Jubilee celebration fanfare.

“People are skint, getting so much more skint and full of worry, and we are supposed to go out and celebrate 70 years of unadulterated, unaccountable wealth, privilege, power and exploitation? Nah.”

Despite the social media post racking up near to 16,000 likes on Twitter, it was also seen as a message that divided online users.

The Northern Echo: Former North West Durham MP, Laura Pidcock. Picture: NORTHERN ECHO.Former North West Durham MP, Laura Pidcock. Picture: NORTHERN ECHO.

While some backed her up by saying: “Laura, I’m totally with you on this. She is the richest person in the world, owns a huge amount of land in GB. What the royals bring in as a draw of tourists does not touch the wealth they have amassed,” as another added: “The queen could give every single person in England a million pounds, and she wouldn’t even notice.”

However, Ms Pidcock’s post wasn’t to everyone’s taste, with one user saying: “Please remember the massive amount of money that comes into this country based on tourism because of this pomp and ceremony and the employment it brings,” while another said: “Laura - we are celebrating HRM as she represents our love of country and her many decent values - you wouldn't understand.”

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