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Nurses are lying if they say they need to use food banks, MP insists

Outspoken MP Lee Anderson, new deputy chair of the Conservative Party, says no one earning £35,000 a year should need to rely on a food bank
New deputy chairman of the Conservative Party Lee Anderson

Outspoken MP Lee Anderson, new deputy chair of the Conservative Party, says no one earning £35,000 a year should need to rely on a food bank

New deputy chairman of the Conservative Party Lee Anderson
Lee Anderson Picture: Alamy

New deputy chairman of the Conservative Party Lee Anderson has accused nurses of lying about needing to use food banks.

Mr Anderson told BBC Radio Nottingham presenter Verity Cowley that he donated to and helped out at his local food bank but he did not believe anyone earning £35,000 a year needed to use them.

Ms Cowley asked: ‘Even though nurses, firefighters, people who have got jobs are saying “I need to use this” you don't believe them?’

MP says people should learn to budget properly and cook meals from scratch

‘No,’ replied the MP for Ashfield in Nottinghamshire, who was chosen by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak as the party’s deputy chairman this week.

Mr Anderson then challenged Ms Cowley to show him a nurse in his constituency who was using a food bank. ‘I’ll give you a year to find one, I dare say you can’t. If you do find one, we can work together with that person and look at why they need to use a food bank,’ he said.

‘Anyone earning over £32,500 in Ashfield using a food bank needs to come and see me but as yet, nobody has ever contacted me. They are the facts.’

Mr Anderson has previously come under fire for saying people needed to learn how to budget properly and cook meals from scratch rather than rely on food banks.

He suggested people could make meals for 30 pence a day if they learnt to budget and cook

He quickly became known as ‘30p Lee’ after suggesting people could make meals for 30 pence a day if they learnt to budget and cook.

At the time he argued that anyone earning £30,000 a year ‘which most nurses are’ and using food banks had something wrong with their finances.

The salary of a newly qualified band 5 nurse starts at £27,055 and rises to £32,934 after four years.

Mr Anderson was also heavily criticised last month after posting a picture of a junior staff member claiming that despite earning less than £30,000 she did not need to use a food bank and could afford holidays abroad.


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