Theresa May told to sack Ben Bradley over sterilisation comments

In a letter sent last night to the Prime Minister, SNP social justice spokesman Neil Gray urged May to take decisive action by removing Bradley from his post.

The 28-year-old has been forced to issue a string of apologies this week over his remarks.

In a blog post from 2011, which surfaced yesterday and is the latest to face scrutiny, Bradley encouraged police brutality when writing about the London riots, which began after the death of a man shot by police.

Bradley wrote: “We need to come down hard on these morons before somebody gets killed!

“If we have any sense as a nation we’ll stay home tonight and make it easy for the police to find the ones hanging around town centres with their faces covered.

“For once I think police brutality should be encouraged!”

The post came to light after he had to apologise for other abusive comments, one in 2012 in which he said men who are out of work should have vasectomies to prevent Britain “drowning in a vast sea of unemployed wasters”, and a second in which he said “public sector workers are lost in their own fantasy land” and should quit if unhappy about pay.

After sending his letter to May, Gray said: “Ben Bradley’s appalling attacks on low income families and our dedicated public service workers are deeply offensive and make him unfit for office. Theresa May must now take decisive action.”

He added: “The Prime Minister once criticised the Tories’ for their ‘nasty party’ reputation – now she is responsible for it.

“The disgusting comments that low income families should be sterilised to prevent them having children, that unemployed people are ‘wasters’, and that public sector workers should stop complaining about damaging Tory cuts to services and pay are only more extreme versions of views that are widely held within the party.

“The comments are all the more insulting given that it is the Tory Government’s policies that have made millions of low income families poorer and worse off – with falling wages, an unfair public sector pay cap, cuts to tax credits and social security, and the longest period of falling living standards since records began.

“If the Tories can’t comprehend why people are angry about their appalling record of failure, they are the ones lost in their own fantasy land.”

In the 2012 blog Bradley wrote: “Sorry but how many children you have is a choice; if you can’t afford them, stop having them! Vasectomies are free.

“Families who have never worked a day in their lives having four or five kids and the rest of us having one or two means it’s not long before we’re drowning in a vast sea of unemployed wasters that we pay to keep!”

The Tory MP for Mansfield has apologised for all the remarks, saying the language he used was “inappropriate” and that his outlook on life had changed since marriage and fatherhood.

No 10 has backed Bradley saying he would not be removed from his new role as Conservative vice-chairman for youth, where part of his job is to update the Tory image in an attempt to attract younger people to the party.

A spokesman said that his apology had been the “right thing to do”, and insisted that his views had changed since he made the remarks.

His comments have also been attacked by other opposition parties.

Cat Smith, Labour’s shadow minister for youth affairs, said: “These repulsive comments expose the Tories’ disgraceful attitude to unemployed people.

“That they come from a man Theresa May chose as a vice-chair of her party speaks volumes. The nasty party is alive and well.”

Bradley became the first person to hold the newly created role when he was promoted last week.

Support for the Conservatives is just 27 per cent among those aged 18-34 – the lowest approval levels on record.

As for values, an Opinium poll found that among this group, only 15 per cent of voters now hold the view that the Tory party represents “people like me”.