Oona Keating. Updated January 19, 2023
A Tory MP has fallen into the trap of trying to explain the cost of living crisis without using his brain, empathy or the services of a search engine.
Simon Clarke spoke to BBC Radio Tees.
“If you use a food bank and earn an average nursing salary of £35,000 a year, there’s something wrong with your budget”
🗣️ @SimonClarkeMP told @greenyfrom6am his thoughts on Art #Nurses strike:
– BBC Radio Tees (@BBCTees) January 18, 2023
“If you use food banks and your average salary is £35,000 a year, there’s something wrong with your budget.”
Mr Clarke, who claimed £24,388.50 in living expenses in the year to the end of September 2022, may want to investigate the meaning of “average” and the implications of having to pay for hospital parking and deal with record inflation.
Here’s what one nurse had to say about it.
“If anyone needs better budgeting, it’s the government”
Sophie Baker joins #Nurses strike picket line and explains how nurses must pick up extra shifts to make ends meet #FairPayforNursing
Follow our live blog for more 👇 https://t.co/FLf3AipJLv pic.twitter.com/etmqRFXlov
— The Mirror (@DailyMirror) January 18, 2023
Other people had something to add.
1.
The reality of the British Tories in 2023 is that too many nurses come to work hungry. Food banks are set up in hospitals just to feed the staff.
This is a shame for the government. https://t.co/SdJ2Wp4tT8
— Dr. Rosena Allyn-Khan (@DrRosena) January 18, 2023
2.
I’m not sure that Simon Clarke, the man who backed the budget that almost destroyed the UK economy, is in a position to tell people to budget properly.
— Michael Glasper (@michaelglasper) January 18, 2023
3.
Budgeting should be easier when you have an expense account and subsidized food and drink at work. For the rest of us, the policies this man supports have sent the costs of everything through the roof. Clown. https://t.co/OysHnMEaXV
— RH (@MKDarlo) January 18, 2023
4.
If you’re on an MP’s basic salary of £84,000 a year and still insist on paying your electricity bills, there’s something wrong with your morals https://t.co/EbvjENLQuV
— Steve Jackson 💙 (@SteJck) January 18, 2023
5.
Simon Clarke is out of touch and insincere, isn’t he? 🤔 I would say “the mask slipped off”, but he never put it on https://t.co/y6nULyzgsI
— Lewis Young (@Lew_Young) January 18, 2023
6.
Tory MP Simon Clarke, who earns £84,000 a year, says nurses who use food banks need to budget better.
He has a certain look as he claimed expenses of £200,700 in just ONE year.
He even charged £7.65 to send a document to voters by registered post 🤔https://t.co/b6FjiYpBt3— Lorraine King (@lorrainemking) January 19, 2023
7.
Simon Clarke takes the art of scornful indulgence to new depths.
It’s more insulting that as a recent cabinet minister, earning around £151k, he tells nurses starting on £27k that their problem is that they don’t budget properly.
He is completely detached from their lives. https://t.co/d3QYDvrTcK
— Andy McDonald MP (@AndyMcDonaldMP) January 18, 2023
8.
Simon Clarke next @BBCTees before “if you’re a nurse and you use a food bank, there’s something wrong with your personal budget.”
An absolutely reprehensible comment by a career politician whose salary has increased by more than 15,000 since 2015.
— just a guy (@utb_smith) January 18, 2023
9.
I would like Simon to live on the average salary of a nurse. I wonder how an MP with over £80k plus expenses plus any other job he might have had the audacity to tell a nurse that their budget was wrong.
Obviously didn’t see how much things cost these days.
— Richie Deitches Barlow (@The_DogWalker) January 18, 2023
10.
What I said this morning @RCPCH tweets in Art #ShiftTheDial webinar?
I said that well-paid middle-aged men need to stop giving stupid budgeting advice. A million miles away from the problem.
Complete bullshit @utb_smith ,
From a person who is ashamed to say that he is related https://t.co/7vUcCtoBUY— Yang Sing (wheezylikesundaymorning) (@wheezylikesund1) January 18, 2023
11.
It would be easier to budget if food inflation was not 16.9%.
— Sir Norman from Nowhere, KBE, CSE.🏴☠️ (@Normanjam671) January 18, 2023
12.
So close to receiving https://t.co/RhfHIthkEL
— Tom Jamieson (@jamiesont) January 18, 2023
Surprise, surprise. 30p Lee agreed with him.
Simon Clarke was delighted to be supported.
An undercover Tory ran the numbers.
It was Simon. That’s £2,265 a month after tax. That’s enough for a single nurse with two children to rent a three-bedroom flat in the south-east AND she has £100 a week left over for luxuries such as bills and food. https://t.co/TEjxCowgd3
— SECRET TORRY 🇬🇧 (@secrettory12) January 19, 2023
“There’s something wrong with your budget.”
READ MORE
This letter from a Times reader is the perfect final word for a 30p meal Tory MP.
The source Radio Tis A picture Screenshot
A rich Tory MP says nurses who use foodbanks aren’t budgeting properly – 12 injections of reason
