Lee Anderson MP was promoted to deputy chairman earlier this week.
The new deputy chairman of the Conservative Party has accused nurses of lying about needing food banks.
Nottinghamshire MP Lee Anderson told BBC Radio Nottingham listeners that he does not believe “nurses, firefighters” and “people who have got jobs” were struggling that much.
When asked if he believed they were using food banks, the MP simply replied, “no”.
Mr Anderson told presenter Verity Cowley “I’ll give you a year to find one, I dare say you can’t. If you do find one, we can work together with that person and look at why they need to use a food bank”.
He added, “Anyone earning over £32,500 in Ashfield using a food bank needs to come and see me but as yet, nobody has ever contacted me. They are the facts.”
It is not the first time Mr Anderson has expressed these views, he told TimesRadio in December, “Anybody earning 30 odd grand a year, which most nurses are, using food banks, then they’ve got something wrong with their own finances.”
He was promoted by Rishi Sunak to Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party earlier this.
Better budgeting skills.
Mr Anderson’s comments come as MPs are handed nearly double the pay rise of exhausted NHS workers and the news that the number of student nurses has plummeted by a quarter in just two years.
Alarmingly, a NursingNotes survey found that even before the cost of living crisis 2 out of every 5 nurses were missing meals to feed their families or save money.
Grassroots group Nurses United called out the comments as an attack on nursing staff.
Lead organiser Anthony Johnson said, “As an MP you’re supposed to respect your constituents and work to improve their lives. It’s pretty obvious that Lee Anderson doesn’t.
“Whilst nurses are struggling to care for our loved ones, in underfunded services, he’s constantly attacking us because he and his party has lost the argument.
Mr Johnson concluded, “Everyone knows how hard we are working, it’s about time he and his party did their jobs and resolved the NHS funding crisis they created.”
A registered nurse in England currently earns £27,055 per year, rising to £32,934 after four years.
