LOCAL MP Rachel Gilmour has refused to apologise after upsetting Stourbridge MP Cat Eccles and councillors and residents in the West Midlands town where 19 homes were destroyed and 18 others damaged by two wildfires.

Mrs Gilmour posted a video on social media suggesting local people were idiots for lighting a barbecue when fire services had warned about the dangers of doing so after a series of heatwaves had left the area like a tinderbox.

But, West Midlands Fire Service has since said the blazes began accidentally in fields where agricultural machinery was being used.

Mrs Gilmour’s Tiverton and Minehead constituency covers West Somerset and parts of the Blackdown Hills and Culm Valley and several parishes which border Wellington.

Her social media comments infuriated many Stourbridge residents who saw them as crass and wrote to Ms Eccles to express their disbelief and anger.

There were calls for Mrs Gilmour to apologise, including from Dudley Metropolitan borough Liberal Democrat Cllr Andrew Tromans, who lives in and represents Stourbridge.

Ms Eccles, who lives in Stourbridge, contacted the Lib Dem whips office in Parliament but was simply told the video had since been edited.

She told the Free Press: “I have not heard from her.

“It came across as she was saying the people of Stourbridge were stupid.

“I live here as well, and it hurt me personally, as well as the community.

“I did see her team had edited that part of the video where she mentions Stourbridge.

“Several of my constituents contacted me at the time because they were unhappy about it.”

Ms Eccles said the fire brigade’s later revelation about the accidental cause of the blazes provided ‘important clarity’ for the community and underlined just how quickly fires could take hold in such extreme weather conditions.

Cllr Tromans said at the time of Mrs Gilmour’s offensive remarks, the cause of the fire had not been determined.

He told the Free Press: “As a Liberal Democrat, community politics is in my veins, I would never make crass judgments about another community.

“It is hurtful that an apology has not been forthcoming.

“The fires were the worst thing to happen in Stourbridge, my home town, for decades.

“No apology, no action from the party.

“Still no acknowledgement of the hurtful statement.

“I have never been rude about the people of Somerset or Devon, I would not dream of it.”

The Free Press has approached Mrs Gilmour’s office and her press officer to ask if an apology would be forthcoming but has not received a response.

Locally, Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue has this summer been dealing with record numbers of wildfires, or, fires in the open, as they are classified.

July was its busiest month in the past 10 years with more than 5,300 calls, 756 to attend fires, an average of 28 fires a day compared to the usual daily average of 12.

There were more than 470 outdoor fires, meaning about two-thirds of all fires the brigade attended during the month had been in the open.