A new MP is planning to work his old job at a chemical plant on Christmas Day – to avoid “dropping the lads in it” at work.
Tory Brexiteer Jacob Young made the pledge after his shock election to Redcar on December 13 – turning the seat blue for the first time in its 45-year history.
The 26-year-old, one of the youngest MPs in Parliament, is a lead technician at a petrochemicals firm – which he has not named – at the 2,000-acre Wilton International chemical plant on Teesside.
He told ChronicleLive: “I should have been working a three month notice but my employer has been really generous and said I can leave any time.
“But if I didn’t do Christmas Day it I’d be dropping the lads at work in it.
(Image: Teesside Live/Katie Lunn)
“My last shift is on January 1 – New Year, new me.”
Mr Young ousted Labour ‘s Anna Turley by more than 3,000 votes in the general election as part of a ‘blue wave’ that seized traditional Labour heartlands in the north east.
Redcar was held by the Lib Dems during Coalition but was otherwise Labour since 1974.
The new MP admitted: “I’ve lived in Teesside my whole life and I didn’t think change would come so quickly in our area.”
MPs are paid £79,468 a year but are allowed to hold down second and third jobs as long as they declare them in the Commons register of interests.
Labour’s Rosena Allin-Khan, a doctor, continued to work night shifts in her local A&E in Tooting, south London, long after she was elected to Parliament.
But others have been slammed for keeping a portfolio of lucrative outside work – including when Tory George Osborne took a string of jobs after quitting as Chancellor.
