BBC Question Time viewers member skewers Tory MP in showdown on welfare reforms

Helen Whately MP, who is Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, was grilled on BBC’s Question Time about this week’s welfare reforms – and one audience member became upset

An audience member on BBC Question Time challenged a Tory MP in a feisty exchange around this week’s welfare reforms.

Introducing the topic, Fiona Bruce instantly asked Helen Whately MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions of the United Kingdom, if “you (the Conservative Party) broke it (the welfare system)?” The Question Time panelist acknowledged it is “broken” and, after the politician’s bluster, Ms Bruce questioned: “Did you get anything right?”

And pressure grew on Ms Whately when an angry audience member in Reading, Berkshire interrupted her waffle. The woman shouted out: “You had 13 years” – a reference to the Conservative Party’s lengthy term – to try to fix the welfare system. Following audible laughter in the audience, Ms Bruce pointed out the number of people claiming benefits “ballooned” under the Tory government.

This led to Fraser Nelson, a newspaper columnist, to brand the welfare system “a disaster” as he too attacked the Conservative government’s approach, partly blaming it for the situation the country faces.

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At the start of the segment, Ms Whately, MP for Faversham and Mid Kent since 2015, said: “We just had an announcement this week from Labour which, to an extent, continues reforms and I think that is a good thing. Unfortunately, I would say, because we do have a very serious problem here, we do have a benefits bill rising to over £100billion by the end of this decade, we have over seven million people claiming some form of sickness benefit. We need it to work in a way that if you can work, you do work but actually if you are disabled and really can’t work, you need to get support.”

It was at this point the woman in the audience vented her frustration, a comment which was in audible at first but Ms Bruce clarified she had said: “You had 13 years”. The camera cut to the woman who nodded and waved her hands in clear exasperation at what she felt was a lack of action from the Tories.

Ms Whately, who was made Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions in November after Kemi Badenoch became Leader of the Opposition, insisted her party “put in substantial reforms” but the coronavirus pandemic “changed things”.

The politician stressed she understands the mental health challenges people across the country face, but argued the current government has not taken steps to try to provide people with the right support to get into work, which she says may help their mental wellbeing in some cases.

But, referencing the audience member’s remark, Ms Bruce said: “And you obviously didn’t see in when you were in power either?” Ms Whately said she did see this – “right at the end” of their term, to which laughter was heard in the crowd.

The debate then moved on to Mr Nelson, who writes for The Times, and the reporter also took aim at the Tories. His Channel 4 documentary Britain’s benefits scandal, which aired in December, explored the issue, but was met with mixed reviews.