Edwina Currie, I invite you to Burnley – in your £230pcm Tesla! | Rebecca Jane column

Kirstie Allsopp, the famous ‘Location, location, location’ presenter has been making a few controversial comments about young people affording their first time homes.
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In Kirstie land, she believes every young person can afford their own home, if they give up ‘Netflix, gym membership and coffee’.

I sat on the GB News sofas over the weekend and had a mild debate with 22-year-old Sophie Corcoran, who agreed with Ms Allsop, stating her generation don’t have their priorities in order.

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On the same evening, I also had a rather fierce debate with Edwina Currie. For five minutes I sat listening to Edwina, telling the nation to drive electric cars, get solar panels on their homes and get some fancy tanks to make hot water. Then I flipped.

Rebecca JaneRebecca Jane
Rebecca Jane

Why did I flip? Because quite frankly, listening to two over privileged middle class ladies telling the nation how to run their lives was enough for me to stomach, when I work in one of the most under privileged towns in the UK. I witness poverty and hardship every single day, whilst they are deluded and out of touch with the real world, in my opinion!

I alerted Ms Currie that it’s not quite so simple to pop off to a shop tomorrow, buy a few solar panels and a fancy water tank. Let alone buy an electric car.

Edwina’s response… ‘Don’t tell me it’s not affordable when you can get a Tesla for £230 per month’.

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That was the point where I put my water on the floor, gasped in horror and held my head in my hands and told her how absolutely deluded she was. Entirely proving my point. Edwina Currie and Kirstie Allsop do not live in the real world. A TESLA! FOR £230 PER MONTH! Knock me over with a feather, whatever she is on, I’m having some of that and I’m also having two Tesla’s for that price!

Within five minutes, we were trending on Twitter and over 50 people sent me screenshots of Tesla deals! On air, I informed her I’d looked into the price of a Tesla two weeks ago.

The minimum was £550 per month! My lovely following found a cracking deal online though, £380 per month is the cheapest you can lease a Tesla for – WITH AN £18,000 DEPOSIT!

I don’t actually know the price of solar panels, I can’t imagine they’re cheap. I also don’t know the price of her fancy water tank either, but given the fact even Ms Currie is asking the neighbours to chip in, it has to be more than solar panels and Tesla’s combined!

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I didn’t give Edwina an easy time, neither did my colleague Sophie. In fact, we went pretty hard on her middle class views. She took my words with grace, dignity and made me an offer to go and stay with her in the Peak District to learn how to go green!

As for Kirstie. Well. I will slightly agree with one point. Recent generations (think Millennials onwards) do not have the same priorities as the people before them. They / we do spend money on Netflix, gym and coffee. If we want bigger houses, yes, we probably need to make some sacrifices. Here’s my thing though…

I know we’re in Burnley, and these facts may not entirely align, but facts are facts. According to the Halifax, the average deposit on a UK home is £56,000. The average a young person spends on coffee, Netflix and gym membership each year is £1,600. Math may not be my forte, but I know it will take 37 years to save.

House prices are extortionate, wages did not rise in the same fashion. Getting on the housing ladder is more difficult for the young people of today.

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Our generations spend money in different ways. My problem with the narrative Kirstie churns out is that she is insinuating young people are wrong for how they spend their money. That they should put every penny they have into buying a home. What if they don’t want to?!

Personally, I subscribe to Netflix, Now TV, Disney and probably a few others I forget. I dip in and out of gym memberships and coffee, yes, I buy that by the bucket load.

I do all of those things because it’s my money and I’ll do what the heck I want with it. My home is lovely, truly, I love it! I’m very happy there. Could I afford a bigger house if I gave up all my subscription addictions? Probably, yes! I’m not going to though, because I’m quite happy as I am, thank you. I don’t need a Kirstie Allsopp guilt trip.

In my 20s, my mortgage was £2,500 per month. My home was incredible. Do you know what came with that incredible home? Stress! Bucket loads of it! I felt like I lived on a knife edge.

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I afforded the mortgage, but what if some day I couldn’t. You never know what could happen, and I lived in constant fear. I also never went on holiday and hardly went out. I remember the day I got rid of that house vividly. People thought I would be heartbroken, I wasn’t, I was free!

To me, it is far more important to live in an adequate house and make memories with my children! Even that is far more of a luxury than most of the people I encounter on a daily basis.

Many people have to choose between heating and eating, let alone thinking about coffee or Netflix!

Finally, Kirstie Allsopp is the daughter of an aristocrat who gave her the deposit for her first home. You cannot comment on such matters when you are so out of touch with the real world.

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Edwina has invited me to the Peak District, for a green education. I am also going to invite Edwina to Burnley. I will happily sit with her and include a family or two who live on the breadline.

I will sit there and ask them if they could afford to give up their 10-year-old petrol car in favour of a new Tesla. If they can afford to spend thousands on solar panels and water tanks. I believe she will be met with the same shock reaction I displayed on air!

Our GB News producers are currently sourcing me my Tesla for the trip, and I look forward to bringing her back with me!

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