WEST Dorset MP Oliver Letwin is in hot water over remarks he apparently made about northerners taking holidays.

In a discussion about airport expansion the Tory policy chief is reported to have said: ‘We don’t want more people from Sheffield flying away on cheap holidays.’ Mr Letwin, right, did not want to discuss the matter and refused to be drawn on whether he would be making an apology.

He has been criticised for the ‘deeply offensive’ remarks which were alleged to have been made during a meeting with the Mayor of London Boris Johnson.

Mr Johnson, also a Conservative, said: “I was absolutely scandalised to hear a government minister tell me he did not want to see more families in Sheffield able to afford cheap holidays.

“Absolutely disgraceful, a bourgeois repression of people’s ability to take a holiday.

“It’s a matter of social justice.”

The leader of Sheffield City Council Paul Scriven has written to Mr Letwin demanding an apology and has asked him to visit the South Yorkshire city to explain his comments to residents.

Councillor Scriven said: “If the reports are accurate then Mr Letwin should apologise and take up my invitation to come up to Sheffield to explain himself. I won’t sit by and see Sheffield people put down.

“As I point out in my letter, I am adamantly in favour of more hard-working families being able to improve their quality of life through things like holidays.”

In his letter, Coun Scriven describes Mr Letwin’s remarks as ‘deeply offensive’ and ‘out of touch with ordinary hard-working families.’ When contacted by the Echo, Mr Letwin said: “I don’t make a practice of commenting on what is alleged to have been said in a private conversation.”