A councillor has said his comments that there was no real poverty in Kirklees were misunderstood.
Kirkburton Conservative, Clr Bill Armer, caused gasps of astonishment at a council meeting last week when he said there was no “absolute poverty” in Kirklees.
The controversial comments came amid an hour-long debate about the council’s poverty prevention work.
Presenting the council’s strategy, Clr Viv Kendrick said 69% of Huddersfield’s children came from families that relied on tax credits.
But moments later Clr Armer stood up and said: “Absolute poverty describes a state of subsistence on the edge of imminent death due to starvation or exposure...I honestly believe that this is not an issue in Kirklees today.”
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He went on to say he believed a level of inequality was a good thing and said a “poverty of aspiration” was an issue for the borough.
Following his speech he was widely condemned in the council chamber by colleagues from other parties.
Green party leader Clr Andrew Cooper, said he was “incredulous” and “amazed” at what he had heard and said Clr Armer “needed to get out a bit more”.
He said: “We deal with people who are making the choices between food and fuel.”
Clr Musarrat Khan said Clr Armer’s speech were the most disgusting comments ever heard in the council chamber.
But speaking later, Clr Armer admitted he had used inappropriate terminology.
And he revealed he had grown up in poverty as a child in Huddersfield.
Clr Armer, a former lecturer in social policy at Leeds University, said: “I thought my comments were not controversial. I subconsciously slipped into academic mode because I’m from an academic background.
“In the light of experience I misjudged the level of the discussion.”
Clr Armer said he was brought up in “abject poverty” in Colne Bridge living in housing with his mother that was condemned in the late 1950s.
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He explained: “My mother and I lived there until 1963, we were more or less the last people out. We had gas lighting, an outside earth closet, a single cold water tap for the entire house, a single gas ring and were overun with rats.
“There were times when I couldn’t go to school as I’d worn out my shoes and I had to wait for my mother to afford some new ones.
“It means a lot to me does poverty; I abhor poverty, but in making a policy we need to have a correct definition.”
Clr Armer said he recognised there was “relative poverty” in Kirklees and was merely trying to express that the level of deprivation was not severe and the definition of poverty had not been properly thought out.
He said: “I prefer to think in terms of extreme inequality – which I think is a bad thing. That is a problem, and I clearly said so.
“I don’t think we should have a totally equal society because an amount of inequality provides aspiration for people to move up the ladder.”
