A former Cabinet minister has questioned why nurses earning £35,000 a year should need to use food banks. Speaking on BBC Radio Tees, Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland Tory MP Simon Clarke said if nurses earning that “average” salary were relying on handouts, “something is wrong with your budgeting”.
The Liz Truss supporter, who was secretary of state for levelling up under her brief premiership, told the radio station the debate over nurses’ pay had got “way out of hand”.
Mr Clarke said: “I’m afraid if you are using a food bank and you are earning the average nurse’s salary of £35,000 a year then something is wrong with your budgeting, because £35,000 a year is not a salary on which you ought to be relying on a food bank. This debate has got way out of hand.”
