Good Morning Britain viewers said they were 'heartbroken' as Susanna Reid told the Prime Minister of a pensioner who uses her free bus pass to sit on buses all day in order to keep warm amid the cost of living crisis. The presenter sat down with Boris Johnson for his first interview on the ITV news programme in nearly five years on Tuesday (May 3). She headed to Downing Street to have the chat live from No.10 but viewers were initially left confused when the PM was late.
During the conversation, which covered the UK's support of Ukraine and the cost of living, Susanna revealed she had an email from 77-year-old Elsie who can only afford to eat one meal and day and spends her morning riding on buses for free to avoid using energy at home.
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But the Prime Minister responded to say it was he who introduced the 'Freedom Pass' that allows people in London over 60 to travel on buses for free. He told Susanna: "Just to remind you that the 24-hour freedom bus pass was something that I introduced.”
To which the host then responded: "Marvellous, so Elsie should be grateful to you for her bus pass!" The Prime Minister was then asked if he knew how much the Carer’s Allowance went up in April, and he admitted: “I don’t know, but I can imagine it wasn’t enough to cope with the cost.”
Continuing on the cost of living, Susanna asked why benefits are not going up in line with inflation and the PM said: "It could get worse. That knocks onto interest rates and that knocks onto the cost of borrowing for everybody. And I’m sorry to say this, but we have to be prudent in our approach.
"We have to help people like Elsie and the families you mentioned, in the short term with huge sums of taxpayers' cash, through the local councils or through the schemes we’re doing… but the best answer is to have a strong economy where we keep interest rates as strong as reasonable and we ensure we get people into high wage, high skills jobs…"
But GMB viewers couldn't help but feel for Elsie. @MissieSparkles tweeted: "Heartbroken for Elsie. Is there a local foodbank who can help her, or community cafe where she can get a meal... short term solution #GMB #Elsie #costoflivingcrisis #susannareid."
@JoshPBooth said: "Susanna is absolutely nailing this interview. Boris’ defence that Elsie has her freedom pass because of him?. Shameful #GMB."
"Shocked and on the verge of tears hearing the story of Elsie, a 77 year old pensioner who spends her days riding buses as she can’t afford the heating in her home. It’s criminal that Boris Johnson isn’t doing anything to change this #GMB," @greglee91 shared.
@TheKnowledgeNow wrote: "That absolutely broke my heart about Elsie," as @PlanetGregMusic added: "Omg did anyone else’s jaw HIT THE FLOOR when Boris reminded us “he introduced the freedom bus pass” so that Elsie can stay on the bus all day to save energy??? #gmb."
