Economist attacks Tories over ‘unforgivable’ cost of living crisis in powerful Question Time speech

An economist has given a powerful take down of the government on Question Time over its "unforgivable" approach to the cost of living crisis.

Miatta Fahnbulleh, who is the chief economist at the New Economics Foundation, appeared on the panel alongside Tory MP Suella Braverman in Hackney.

It comes after new research showed that more than two million adults in the UK have skipped meals for a whole day over the past month because they cannot afford to eat as the crisis worsens.

Fahnbulleh accused the government of not “grasping the scale” of the problem, and failing to act to protect the most vulnerable in a powerful speech.

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“When you top up all the measures that the government has put in place, families on average are still £1,000 worse off. So your numbers are literally made up,” Fahnbulleh said, attacking Braverman’s figures.

“…This year one in three households and half of all our children will struggle to afford bread and butter things and are going to have to make day to day sacrifices just to stay afloat. It doesn’t feel like the govern doesn’t grasp the scale of the challenge. If you had, it would have acted by now,” she said, turning to Braverman again.

Fahnbulleh went on to say that there was “not a single measure” in the spring budget that would support families on the lowest incomes in this country.

Fahnbulleh gave an impressive performance on Question TimeBBC

She then urged the government to introduce a windfall tax and a £15billion boost to benefits to help “the families who are at the sharpest end of this crisis.”

The economist ended by saying: “When two million people in the richest country are skipping meals because they can’t afford it, the fact you’re not acting, I think, is unforgivable.”

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