Question Time audience member forced to explain how maths works to Tory minister

Last night, on BBC Question Time, Tory minister Brandon Lewis reiterated the Conservative Party’s promise to add “50,000 new nurses”.

His claim was met by laughter from audience members and has been the focus of much attention recently with many pointing out that of the 50,000 new nurses promised by the Tory party, only 30-32,000 would actually be new employees.

Lewis

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After a short back and forth with Lewis, a teacher in the crowd told the politician, “you can’t make up maths” after he disputed the Tory explanation of their figures and accused the party of lying. Claiming at one point that his eight-year-old daughter was able to work out the sum. “I asked my eight-year-old before I came here tonight and she knew the right answer,” he said. The teacher in the audience also told Lewis that he was “lying”, to which he had no rebuttal.

Another Question Time audience member asked, “If I have three apples and the Conservatives give me two more do I have five more apples?”, which again brought more laughter towards the Tory minister.

Lewis admitted that the NHS have an issue with staff retention and promised to lure ex-nurses back to work, but did not elaborate on why so many staff members want to leave in the first place, or specifically what the governments plans were to change that.

He said: “We want to do something about that and encourage some who have already left to come back.”

Others on the show described his claims as “creative accounting”.

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