Yahoo News Loose Women's Judi Love demolishes Rishi Sunak in grilling over poverty as his wealth rises to £651m
Rishi Sunak underwent a severe grilling on Loose Women on Thursday (May 17) as one of the panellists pressed him on poverty at a time when his own wealth has skyrocketed. Judi Love did not hold back in asking him about poverty in the UK and when his government would help out those who were suffering.
The toasting on the all-female panel show created waves online, with Rishi himself saying he was 'intimidated' coming on the show, as social media showed its appreciation. Judi Love asked about what Mr Sunak's government will be doing for people in social housing and when.
She said: "I was in social housing, I lived in a home that had damp that was affecting my child's health. We've got NHS workers right now as we're having this interview, queuing to go to food banks."
She added: "People are suffering right now, what are you going to do and when are you going to do it?" to which there was a round of applause. In response, Mr Sunak spoke about online safety saying that the regulator Ofcom is setting out exactly what is permissible to post online with the threat of 'enormous fines' to those who don't comply - seemingly avoiding Judi's point about social housing.
Judi brings him back on topic quickly, enquiring about people who might not have internet access as they can't afford to pay the bills. Judi says these people are "looking to you [Sunak] for a save line. We've got people going to work who are not eating because we're in a state of poverty. What is going to take place now? What are you going to do now to address this?"
Mr Sunak, whose own personal wealth combined with his wife's this week was reported to have risen to £651m, then began to look into the past rather than the present and spoke about financial security during the pandemic with furlough and struggles with the war in Ukraine. "None of this has been easy for anybody, Judi. What we've done during that time is continually provide support. You saw that with me during the pandemic and furlough - there were millions of people who thought they were going to lose their jobs and we stepped in to provide support - we did the same with energy bills."
Kaye Adams interjected: "But there are four million children living in poverty, Prime Minister", but she was ignored by Mr Sunak. Instead, he said that the welfare system was being upgraded and that for those in work, he claimed there had been a tax cut - though for many this is not actually the case in real terms as income tax brackets remained static in the face of inflation.
Judi brought up the point that as the UK's richest-ever Prime Minister, he might be out of touch with the needs of people living in poverty. She said: "A lot of people are concerned that you [Sunak] cannot emotionally connect with them because you haven't and don't live the life they've lived.
"How can you connect to people when they're saying to you that they're worried to send their child to the local shop because of knife crime? When they're worried to sleep in their home because of damp? When they're worried to take the day off sick even though they're suffering from mental health because they don't want to miss that pay cheque?"
Again Mr Sunak pointed back to the pandemic furlough saying: "I think I'd ask people to judge me by my actions and whenever the country's been in these moments, that's what I've done and that's how I was raised."
"How were you raised?" Judi asked defiantly, cutting him off.
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