A Conservative MP has claimed that most children who struggle in his town are the “products of crap parents”.

James Daly, the Tory MP for Bury North, made the claim while speaking to the i newspaper.

He was first elected in 2019 as an MP for the area. Bury North has swapped between Labour and the Conservatives since 1997.

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James Frith, the Labour MP who Mr Daly unseated, is aiming to win the seat back at the election set to be called next year. The current majority is just 105.

Mr Daly is a member of the “New Conservatives” group, which includes the likes of Lee Anderson, Jonathan Gullis, Brendan Clarke-Smith, Danny Kruger and Miriam Cates.

Mr Clarke-Smith appeared to defend his colleague, posting on X: “Good parenting leads to better outcomes for children.

“Who’d have guessed?”

Speaking to the i, former lawyer Mr Daly said: “I think New Conservatives represent very much working-class conservatism.

“We’re not a strange right-wing sect. It’s just people who want to give people the best chance to succeed and thrive in life.

“When you think about the family, it’s about stability.

“Most of the kids who struggle in Bury are the products of crap parents and so what do we do to try to address that issue?

“On the left it would just be we’ll throw money at this and hope something sticks, somebody like me thinks about this more fundamentally.”

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Mr Frith told Sky News: “I was astonished and I think the people of Bury North will be astonished as well.

“It was quite revealing to see what he really thinks of families and parents in Bury North when speaking candidly to a reporter.

“At a difficult time for everybody, to have such judgement issued to them by their so-called representative I think is a really disappointing state of affairs and he should apologise.”