Nottinghamshire MP Lee Anderson has drawn heavy criticism after using one of his staffers to make an argument against nurses using foodbanks. The Ashfield MP uploaded an image of Katy to Twitter on Thursday, January 19, saying she earned £30,000 a year and does not need to use a foodbank.
The Conservative MP had earlier defended fellow Tory Simon Clarke, who told nurses on £35,000 a year that "something is wrong with your budgeting” if they are using foodbanks. Mr Anderson said in the tweet: "Katy works for me.
"She is single & earns less than 30k, rents a room for £775pcm in Central London, has student debt, £120 a month on travelling to work, saves money every month, goes on foreign holidays & does not need to use a foodbank.
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"Katy makes my point really well." The term 'Poor Katy' trended across the social media site, generating around 4,000 tweets.
Replying to the post, author and journalist James Felton said: "Hi Katy do you mind posing for a photograph, I want to tweet out your salary and living arrangements in order to **** on people in completely different circumstances that have been forced to use foodbanks because of our callous and ****** government, cheers."
Broadcaster Shelagh Fogarty made the point: "I see your view of nurses is much the same as Margaret ‘it’s only pin money’ Thatcher. Some nurses have families to feed, bigger bills to pay, are single parents, care for elderly parents. Good luck to your Katy though."
Katy works for me. She is single & earns less than 30k, rents a room for £775pcm in Central London, has student debt, £120 a month on travelling to work saves money every month, goes on foreign holidays & does not need to use a foodbank.
Katy makes my point really well. pic.twitter.com/8nrwTSQ4Qs— Lee Anderson MP (@LeeAndersonMP_)
Other users also called on Mr Anderson to give Katy a higher wage. "Really hope someone offers Katy a better job on the back of this tweet," said writer David M Barnett.
Another user added: "This isn’t the point you think you’re making. You should pay Katy more." In an earlier post in defence of Mr Clarke, Mr Anderson said: "The point here is that ANYONE (not just nurses) earning *MORE* than 30k, & are using foodbanks must have a budgeting problem.
"I have constituents i.e armed forces, bin men, bar staff, care workers, bus drivers, pensioners etc who can all live on less. Am I missing something?" He later uploaded a message reading "taking a break" alongside the Twitter logo. Nottinghamshire Live has approached Mr Anderson for comment.
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