Judi Love has called on the new Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, to seize his opportunity to bring the country together. The comedian and Loose Women panellist expressed deep concern over the current division in Britain, urging leadership rooted in compassion.
“We’re so divided at the moment – and we need unity and love. We need a PM to come from a place of compassion, or we’re going to lose the one thing that we still hold dear, which is being in Great Britain,” she said. As Burnham sets out his plans to tackle the cost of living crisis, Love, 46, who previously grilled his predecessor Keir Starmer on Loose Women, added: “People just want to feel seen. They want to live comfortably, with their family and loved ones.”
Plea for Unity and Compassion
Love highlighted the struggles many face, saying: “They want to feel, if they’re in a position of difficulty, like they have somewhere to turn, because right now, people feel like they have nowhere to turn.” She warned against narratives of separation and blame, stressing: “We need unity. Really, we all want the same thing: happiness, contentment, joy and a healthy life. I mean, we are in a state where the UK has high rates of child poverty.”
Love, a regular on Loose Women since 2020, knows hardship firsthand. She single-handedly raised a son and daughter, now grown, and earned a master’s degree in social work while parenting, following a Community Arts Practice degree years earlier.
Launch of The Dr Judi Love Award
She studied both at the University of East London, which made her an honorary doctor of arts last September. Now she has launched The Dr Judi Love Award with UEL, a scholarship providing financial help to students from low-income backgrounds, single parents, and carers. Calling it a full-circle moment, Love understands the difficulty of pursuing dreams while struggling to get by.
Reflecting on her own academic journey, she said: “For me, I was nervous, questioning if I was doing the right thing, but I knew I wanted to be in further education. I did a Social Work degree and Community Arts Practice degree at UEL and loved them both. My gosh, the balancing act with two kids was hard work. But ‘I can’t do this’ wasn’t an option. I do remember my daughter watching me write, and times my son would wake through the night, and I’d hold him and type at the same time. But I always knew I was doing it for me and them. Then, they saw me graduate – and that was a beautiful, proud moment.”
Overcoming Challenges and Finding Humour
Recalling tough times, she said: “Parenting is not for the faint-hearted! As a single parent, knowing that all the responsibility and every single decision is yours... well, it brings a different pressure. Managing unexpected things – like health, housing, and financial obligations, sacrificing and struggling, feeling like you’re never on top of things – it was, and is, scary.”
Despite challenges, Love has thrived. She appeared on season one of Last One Laughing with Roisin Conaty and Jimmy Carr, and has added new dates to her sellout stand-up tour, All About The Love. She insists on the importance of humour: “In the world we’re living in now? Laughter has never been more key. It’s so important to find a common space, things we can all have a giggle about. Comedy’s like great food – we’re all gonna enjoy it, no matter what our taste is.”
Applications for the scholarship close on 23 August. For more, visit www.uel.ac.uk/judi-love-award.
