Good Morning Britain's Martin Lewis put Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch on the spot during an interview on Wednesday, months after their on-air clash. The financial journalist grilled Badenoch on welfare spending and mental health support.
Welfare Budget Debate
Badenoch stated: "We have a huge welfare budget. Yes, you have mentioned that pensions make a big part of that, but there's a reason why we have the triple lock, because so many pensioners are living in poverty." She added: "The amount of money that we are spending on welfare, £200 billion on benefits by 2031, yet we don't know what we're going to spend on defence at a time when the Defence Secretary has resigned."
Martin's Challenge
Martin pressed the MP: "The two-child limit is on Universal Credit, and it says that, effectively, if you have more than two children, you won't get any increased Universal Credit on the back of that. You talk about out-of-work benefits, that two-child limit applies to people in work as well, so are you going to be splitting it up, or are you actually going to be in work benefits because 40 per cent of Universal Credit goes to people in work?"
Mental Health Concerns
Badenoch said she wanted to address a "real issue" concerning people with "low-level conditions" remaining unemployed, which she believed "would be good for them." Martin interrupted: "Would you need funding? Because a big problem is that people can't get mental health appointments when they're going through mental health crises, and the delay is absolutely hideous in a way we'd never do with physical health. Would you be funding that to be improved to help these people get back to work?"
Sickfluencer Claims
Badenoch responded: "You say that, Martin, but actually, we have seen sickfluencers tell people, 'If you want to get benefits, just ring up and tell them you're too anxious to come in to be assessed.' There is a real problem, and just as we've seen yesterday, that shadow fleet issue, Russia firing warning shots. We do need to look after defence, and that means tough decisions must be made."
Martin countered: "I don't think we should make the assumption [that] everybody who's off work with anxiety or depression is because of [a] sickfluencer. Of course, there are always people who've played the system, but there are many people who have real mental health problems, they can't get help, and then we're pushing them back to work. Surely we should be joining the system up so that we give them the mental health help and get them in work?"
Badenoch replied: "Martin, we're in an emergency situation. This isn't five, ten years ago, where we can just act like everything is normal. Something really serious is happening."
Good Morning Britain airs weekdays at 6am on ITV.
