Rebecca Long-Bailey SLAMMED for describing brain-damaged patient as “a practical vegetable”

The Labour leadership candidate Rebecca Long-Bailey when speaking at the Bristol leadership hustings on Saturday described a brain-damaged constituent as having been “a practical vegetable” following an accident left him brain-damaged. Kinder and gentler politics appears to have hit the buffers. For context, Mrs Long-Bailey was stating that she had been able to secure a medical review for her constituent after his accident. This involved securing him a place in a new treatment programme and seeing him make a good recovery. 

However, Mrs Long-Bailey Sadly undermined the positive anecdote by saying the gentleman was transformed from being “a practical vegetable” to having “hope for the future”. This comparison with Labours fortunes seems at best a little strange and possibly outright nasty. The term has been described as “very unfortunate” by Chloe Hayward from the UK Acquired Brain Injury Forum. A spokesperson for Rebecca Long-Bailey released a statement that was as follows “Rebecca wanted to emphasise that the person she helped had suffered a severe brain injury,”. 

Some are suggesting that Mrs Long-Bailey may drop out of the leadership race following this controversy. UNN’s Oliver Down has attempted to make contact with Mrs Long-Bailey’s office to offer her a right of reply but has been unable to obtain contact with anyone as of yet. Lord Hattersley who was Labour’s deputy leader between 1983-1992 has called on moderate MPs to refuse to work with Miss Long Bailey if she was to become the leader of the Labour party. He has told the Observer “despite the obvious truth that Jeremy Corbyn must take the blame for the worst result in almost 100 years, Rebecca Long Bailey, his anointed successor, is the favourite to succeed him as party leader. Her election, which is close to being certain, would be the public statement that Corbyn has gone but Corbynism lives on”.