Ranvir Singh grilled Chancellor Rishi Sunak about his Spring Statement as he appeared on Good Morning Britain today.
The Chancellor spoke to Ranvir and Ben Shephard on the ITV breakfast show today, as he defended the string of measures he put in place, which included raising the threshold at which workers start paying National Insurance as well as a 5p a litre one-year cut in fuel duty. His critics have slammed him for not doing enough to help the cost of living crisis.
Appearing on the programme today, Mr Sunak insisted the government had helped a lot of people with their plans.
However, Ranvir didn't agree and launched a blistering attack on the Chancellor as he discussed public services like the police, schools and NHS, insisting the government were really helping out with the funding of these.
"Hang on a minute," the presenter said as Mr Sunak raised his voice and interrupted. "No hang on," he said, "People are not waiting as long for their operations, all of those things - that's what people's taxes are going on - increased investment is happening."
Ranvir then interrupted again as she told the Chancellor: "It's your job to put a spin on things on what you've done, but let's have a listen to what the Institute of Fiscal Studies has said about the Spring Statement."
They then played a clip where they said that the Spring Statement had failed to help a large group of people, including public sector workers and those on benefits. The presenters then crossed back to their interview with Mr Sunak, as they continued to talk over one another, with Mr Sunak attempting to defend himself once again.
"It's there isn't it? You can sort of spin it how you'd like," Ranvir said, "What about a windfall tax on oil companies? That's what Labour wanted, but you refused to do that. Even the BP chief executive said at the end of last year that these rises are making his company into a cash machine." There was a long pause before Mr Sunak began giving his answer, defending public sector workers' salaries.
Later on in the interview, Ben also clashed with Mr Sunak as the pair interrupted one another over the government's plans. Ben shared some of the viewers and guests' own worries after the changes were announced, but Mr Sunak failed to agree with the guests' idea of an essential users fuel rebate. Ben insisted it would make a "real tangible difference".
"We did something for everyone, rather than specifically those people," Mr Sunak replied.
Those tuning into the programme praised Ben and Ranvir's questioning of the Chancellor, as he tried to skirt around the benefits of the changes he had announced in the Spring Statement.
"Good interview today, giving Sunak the truth. He is only protecting the economy for the wealthy. The NHS isn't getting the money it needs, we haven't got more teachers, police or nurses than in 2010 when the Tories took over. More lying. #GMB," one wrote.
A second added: "I thought Ranvir was really good, she was making him squirm, didn’t let up with decent questions and he had no answer for them, she made him look what he is, completely out of touch with what the majority of the public are going through."
"Great questions from #gmb to @RishiSunak who simply doesn’t listen to the reality of the British public," a third shared.
