Victoria Derbyshire didn’t hold back when she confronted Labour minister Torsten Bell over the government’s welfare cuts.
Bell, a minister in the Department for Work and Pensions, admitted that some people will lose out under Labour’s £5 billion benefits overhaul. But that didn’t stop Derbyshire from pushing him for answers on BBC Newsnight.
Bell Dodges Direct Question
During Tuesday night’s broadcast, Derbyshire got straight to the point:
“Are you OK with making people worse off?”
Bell’s response? A classic dodge.
“Well, I’m OK with saying this system has to change,” he said.
But Derbyshire wasn’t letting him off the hook.
“The question was: are you OK with making people worse off?”
Bell tried to pivot, talking about the need for a sustainable benefits system. But Derbyshire cut him off:
“1,000 people a day wasn’t my question. Are you OK with making people worse off?”
Bell doubled down:
“Well, I’m OK with building a sustainable system.”
Derbyshire fired back:
“If people are worse off, then so be it?”
Bell insisted that, in the long run, more people would be working and better off.
“You don’t know that,” Derbyshire shot back.
‘Could You Live on £70 a Week?’
Later in the interview, Derbyshire raised concerns about young people being forced to survive on as little as £70 a week under the new system.
“Could you live on £70 a week?” she asked.
Bell admitted:
“Absolutely not.”
Derbyshire didn’t miss a beat:
“So why do you expect young people to?”
Bell tried to soften the blow, saying that housing benefit and personal independence payments would help.
But Derbyshire’s grilling left a clear impression: Labour’s welfare cuts are going to hit vulnerable people hard — and the government knows it.
You can watch it below:
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