The Welsh Conservatives’ Shadow Equalities Minister has apologised for an eight-year-old Facebook post in which she regretted the fact that it was illegal to shoot “Chavs”.
Laura Anne Jones also joked about shooting the then Labour leader Ed Miliband.
On her Facebook page, Ms Jones posted a photograph of what could be her aiming a sports rifle.
In response to a friend who sent her a message asking: “Shooting plebs?”, Ms Jones wrote: “I would like to do a spot of Chav shooting, Tom – such a shame that isn’t legal.”
Responding to another friend, she posted a further message which said: “I am sure I would become the perfect shot, Brendan if I had ol’ Red Ed to aim at.”
The post had been made during Ed Miliband's time as Labour leader (2010-15) when he was dubbed “Red Ed” by right-wing newspapers.
A reader who drew Ms Jones’ comments to our attention said: “These comments are hardly appropriate for a Shadow Equalities Minister.”
A Welsh Conservative source said: “I can’t understand why people put this kind of thing in writing on a public platform. Do they do it when they’ve been drinking? It doesn’t make sense.”
Ms Jones said: “I apologise for this post that was made on my personal Facebook page nearly 10 years ago.
“I do not condone the use of violence in any form, and my flippant use of language was unacceptable and inappropriate, which I deeply regret.
“They do not represent me, or my views, and I’m very sorry for any offence I have caused.”
Ms Jones, who was born in Newport and brought up in Monmouthshire, is a regional MS representing South Wales East, and returned to the Senedd last year following the death of MS Mohammed Asghar.
She previously sat as an Assembly Member for the same region between 2003 and 2007, and was subsequently a Monmouthshire county councillor.
In one of her speeches about equality in the Senedd, she stated: “What is social justice? To me, social justice is providing equality of opportunity—providing people with the opportunities and the freedom to make the best choices so that they and their families can live the best possible lives.
“Social justice is the narrowing of the gap in wealth, justice, governance and opportunity.”
Ms Jones has been re-selected to stand in the top position on her party’s South Wales East regional list for the Senedd election in May.
In his 2012 book Chavs: The Demonization of the Working Class, the journalist Owen Jones wrote: “In modern Britain, the working class has become an object of fear and ridicule.
“From Little Britain’s Vicky Pollard to the demonization of Jade Goody, media and politicians alike dismiss as feckless, criminalized and ignorant a vast, underprivileged swathe of society whose members have become stereotyped by one, hate-filled word: chavs.”
