Good Morning Britain viewers have accused the ITV breakfast show of being "soft" on Health Secretary Yvette Cooper during her recent appearance, with some citing her husband Ed Balls' role on the programme as a conflict of interest.
Interview sparks viewer backlash
Cooper appeared via video link from Sheffield on Thursday, August 6, to discuss mental health services. Despite Balls not being present, viewers felt the interview was biased and questioned why she was asked about the prison system instead.
Taking to X, one viewer wrote: "Utterly pathetic soft interview with Yvette Cooper about the prison crisis on #GMB because she is the wife of #GMB presenter Ed Balls. Shameful." Another simply fumed: "Pointless interview with Cooper."
Viewers question relevance
A third observed: "Wasting all this time speaking to the health secretary about prisons. Typical #gmb!" Another penned: "Adil Ray just said, 'Let's talk to Yvette Cooper...' and my instant thought was, 'What's the point?' What's the point in these 'leaders' that are effectively bought by commercial interests & genocidal states? Every major UK party stinks of compromise & self-interest. #GMB".
A fifth suggested a way to avoid bias, stating: "@edballs should have been removed from @GMB as soon as Cooper joined the Labour Friends of for obvious reasons."
Mental health plans revealed
After being questioned about the early release of prisoners, Cooper was given the chance to explain her plans for mental health services. She said: "I'm here in Sheffield at the moment in the community centre. This is one of the first six that we have started and begun. There is a library behind me as part of this community centre.
"What it's doing is bringing together mental health services and teams to work together to provide support for people who may need that mental health treatment or support in the community. So it means people can walk in and get support and advice, rather than waiting a very long time for a referral.
"It means we can provide the support early. There's going to be 100 of these centres rolled out right across the country, and also in addition to that, 59 new emergency treatment centres for mental health.
"So rather than people going to the A and E to the main A and E, actually, they could go to a mental health emergency department instead."
