Penny Mordaunt jokes SNP was behind Glasgow Willy Wonka experience due to 'high cost and poor return'

The leader of the House of Commons has joked that she believed the SNP was behind the viral Willy Wonka experience in Glasgow due to its “high cost”, its “poor return” and “the fact police were called”.

Penny Mordaunt made the comments during business questions at Westminster on Thursday.

SNP business spokesperson Richard Thomson had criticised science secretary Michelle Donelan who “cost the taxpayer £15,000 after falsely accusing an academic of supporting Hamas”.

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The sum was paid ‘without admitting any liability’, according to the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology.

He said: “So could we have a debate on the limits of privilege and specifically whether it’s the policy of the Government that ministers can say whatever they like outside of Parliament and they will be financially indemnified from the consequences of doing so by the taxpayer.

“And whether she considers that it’s now the job of the taxpayer to underwrite financially the Conservative party’s culture wars whenever they overstep the mark.”

Mordaunt replied: “I think it is rather cheeky of (Thomson) to seek to lecture us about use of public funds – I refer him to what I said about the secretary of state for science earlier on – the SNP are legendary in this respect.

“I had wrongly assumed actually that the appalling Willy Wonka experience in Glasgow had been laid on by the SNP, given its high cost, poor return, and the fact that the police were called.

“But however the presence of a bouncy castle put patent to that theory, given that bouncy castles have been banned by SNP local authorities on health and safety grounds.”