The editor of the Daily Mirror, Kevin Maguire, has called the politician Anne Widdecombe "out of touch" for comments she made regarding food prices.
On Good Morning Britain today (Wednesday, May 17) the subject of the former Tory minister and current Reform Party member's comments was discussed.
Yesterday (Tuesday, May 16) Widdecombe appeared on the BBC Politics Live Programme discussing rising food prices and laid the blame at wage demands being made by public sector workers.
Presenter Jo Coburn then asked her what she would say to consumers who cannot afford to pay for some of the basics, citing cheese sandwich ingredients going up 37% in the last year.
Widdecombe replied: "Well then you don’t do the cheese sandwich ... because we have been decades without inflation we have come to regard it as some sort of given right that our food doesn’t go up."
How did Kevin Maguire respond to this?
On Good Morning Britain presenter Susanna Reid brought up "unsympathetic" comments made about food prices, and then mentioned what Widdecombe had had to say.
'She's out of touch.'
— Good Morning Britain (@GMB) May 17, 2023
Former Tory minister Ann Widdecombe has said families don't have a 'right' to low food prices and that people who cannot afford to make a cheese sandwich should not 'do the cheese sandwich'. pic.twitter.com/rv0XnuIsJi
Co-presenter Martin Lewis then jokingly said: "It's lucky isn't it really that it's only cheese and bread that's gone up in price and we haven't had any other inflation in the country apart from with cheese and bread, so there's lots of other options."
Daily Mirror editor Maguire then responded: "Let them eat cake I suppose. Food inflation is 90%. She [Widdecombe] was deeply unsympathetic as she often can be."
He added: "It's the attitude of some people in the country who I think are out of touch with the reality for many families where mums and dads work and they are struggling to feed their families. She is out of touch now."
Alongside Maguire, Lee Healey from the money advice service IncomeMax, also gave his opinion.
He said: "At the end of the day there's a cost of living crisis on, it's incredibly difficult for families, and as you say sometimes trying to make your budget stretch for everything that you need, whether it's rent, your food bills, council tax, and obviously bringing up children, can be incredibly difficult."
Good Morning Britain airs weekdays from 6am on ITV1 and ITVX
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