November 9, 2017 11.24 am This story is over 76 months old

Boston and Skegness MP asks government to invest in driverless vehicles… and gets mocked on Twitter

The tweet attracted a lot of attention.
Boston and Skegness MP Matt Warman. Photo: Guy Owen for Lincolnshire Reporter

Boston and Skegness MP Matt Warman has been taunted for asking ministers to invest in driverless vehicles, with gleeful Twitter users suggesting that his party’s government was already driverless.

The Conservative MP questioned Business Secretary Greg Clark in the House of Commons on Tuesday, November 7 on support available for the development of electric and driverless cars, especially in rural areas such as Lincolnshire.

He said: “Whether lorries or tractors, it is in rural areas where autonomous vehicles have the potential to make a particularly profound impact.

“Will my right hon. Friend assure me that the research that he is funding will look in particular at rural areas rather than simply focusing on our very well connected cities?”

Afterwards, Matt Warman, a former Daily Telegraph Technology Editor, said that he was pleased that the Business Secretary was “alive to the idea” of how driverless vehicles could open up opportunities in the agricultural sector.

However, the timing of the Boston and Skegness MP’s tweet, coming just hours before the resignation of International Development Secretary Priti Patel, attracted the attention of some mischievous social media users.

Many jumped on the current chaos within the Cabinet, suggesting that the UK had “a driverless government” and was in need of “strong and stable vehicles”.

Others asked whether his inspiration had come from under fire Prime Minister Theresa May, with one user comparing his tweet to incompetent fictional television and radio presenter Alan Partridge.