Nottinghamshire MP Lee Anderson has been slammed after he claimed those using foodbanks are wasting money on "fags and booze". The Ashfield MP said that foodbanks have become an "industry".
Mr Anderson made his comments in an interview with The Telegraph. He claimed people were spending money on non-essentials such as Sky TV, according to The Mirror.
He said: "In a lot of cases these people were just wasting money on fags and booze and non-essentials, non-priority debts, Sky TV or Virgin Media. There was a lot of money they could save.
READ MORE: Criticism as Nottinghamshire MP Lee Anderson uses staff member in nurses foodbank argument
"There were takeaways, holidays. In this world, you don't have the automatic right to have all the nice things in life. You have to work for them and you have to pay for them."
The former miner added: “Yes, there is a need for food banks for some people who fall on hardtimes all of a sudden. But there’s a whole industry now. In my opinion, this is a scandal.
“We should be teaching a man to fish. If we get back to the basics, get people to help themselves, give them a hand up rather than a handout, this country would be even better.”
Mr Anderson recently came under fire after he used one of his staffers to make an argument that nurses should not be using foodbanks. He posted a picture of his employee Katy, claiming she earned £30,000 a year and did not need to use a foodbank.
The MP's own spending has also come under fire after details of his expenses claims were published. For the 2020-21 financial year, Mr Anderson claimed £222,618.06 in expenses, according to the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority.
His comments about foodbanks have come under fire from other politicians. Daisy Cooper, Lib Dem deputy leader, said: "Food banks aren’t an industry - they’re the direct result of industrial-scale neglect by this Conservative government. Lee Anderson should be ashamed of himself and apologise immediately to all those who rely on food banks to put food on the table for their families.
"The time has surely come for Lee Anderson to lose the Conservative whip. Sadly the Conservative party is too weak and doesn't care enough about food poverty to actually do anything about these kinds of comments from their own MPs."
READ NEXT:
