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North East accent costs MP job

MP Sharon Hodgson has said her North East accent cost her a job.

The Labour member for Washington was speaking in a debate on the new Equality Bill - which she said would mean “no more too old, no more too young, and no more faces or accents which didn’t fit”.

During the debate Mrs Hodgson said her accent had prevented her winning a promotion when she worked at Northern Rock.

“At the time, I was a young personnel clerk and I had applied to be a training officer,” she told fellow MPs. “I got down to the last two, but I did not get the job. During feedback, I was told that the reason - it was not the main reason, it was the only reason - I did not get the job was that my accent was thought to be too strong for the branch staff in the South, who would not be able to understand me.

“Well, I am pleased to say that my accent has not stopped me being selected for my party or, I am glad to say, being elected to this place.”

The MP - who represents Gateshead East and Washington West - also spoke about how she felt public attitudes towards the North East had changed, thanks in part to local celebrities Ant and Dec.

She said: “That happened more than 20 years ago and I would like to think that things are a little different now. “I would also go so far as to say that that may be due in part to Ant and Dec. People seem to like the North East accent now.”

Mrs Hodgson, who left school at 16 to support her mother and two younger brothers, said that she had “never dreamed of being an MP.”

But she said growing up as “part of the Thatcher generation” had fuelled her anger at inequalities between North and South - something she still cites as a driving force behind her politics.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .