The Prime Minister has hit back at Labour-supporting Gary Neville after he criticised Qatari working conditions as "abhorrent" and then accused the UK government of "demonising" striking rail workers and nurses. Speaking as a pundit on ITV ahead of yesterday's World Cup final Mr Neville said nurses, who are taking strike action over a 19 per cent pay claim, were paid a "pittance".
Asked about Qatar's treatment of workers, Mr Neville said: "It's abhorrent and we should detest low pay, detest low pay, poor accommodation and poor working conditions. That is something we can never ever accept in this region or in any region.
"It is just worth mentioning that we've got a current government in our country, who are demonising rail workers, ambulance workers and terrifyingly, nurses. So in our country, we've got to look at workers' rights but certainly where football goes now, we have to pick up on workers' rights wherever we go because people have to be equally treated.
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"We can't have people being paid a pittance to work, we can't have people in accommodation which is unsavoury and disgusting, we can't have that. It shouldn't happen with the wealth that exists and it shouldn't happen in our country that our nurses are having to fight for an extra pound or two pounds."
Speaking to the Dail Mail the Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, argued that as chancellor he had exempted NHS workers from a public sector pay freeze. Responding to Mr Neville's comments he said: "I think when most people are tuning in to watch Gary Neville they want to hear about the football and watch the football. They don't want to discuss politics.
"I come from an NHS family, I spent my life working in my mum’s pharmacy growing up. My track record both as chancellor and PM is prioritising the NHS. During Covid when there was a pay freeze in the rest of the public sector, the one area that got special treatment was the NHS. I did that as chancellor.”
Downing Street rejected Mr Neville’s criticism, after the football pundit appeared to compare the treatment of migrant workers in Qatar to the UK Government’s treatment of striking nurses and other workers. “It is clearly not a legitimate or appropriate comparison in any way,” the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said.
The former Manchester United and England footballer, Mr Neville was accused of “hypocrisy” on Sunday night as he agreed to work for beIN Sports, a global network of sports channels owned and operated by the Qatari media group beIN.
Tory MP Simon Clarke said on Twitter: "Quite apart from the fact every nurse is receiving a pay rise of £1400, to compare workers' rights in Qatar with the UK is grotesque."
Columnist Nick Timothy tweeted: "Gary Neville - paid apologist for Qatar - used his ITV punditry berth to make a party political speech unchallenged and make offensive comparisons between Qatar and Britain on workers' rights. The hypocrisy is no surprise but the failure of ITV to pre-empt this is unacceptable.
Another Conservative MP, Lee Anderson, said in a tweet: "Another party political broadcast by a millionaire. Looks like ITV is on my banned list now. Talk about football Gary and keep your nose out of politics. You don't know what you're talking about".
Mr Neville, a Labour supporter, responded: "I'm glad you're p****d off! The biggest set of charlatans to ever be in power!" He later retweeted a message by Greater Manchester Mayor, Andy Burnham who tweeted: "I urge the Government to resolve the NHS pay disputes before we head into the Christmas break. January and February will be very challenging if we don’t."
In a recent appearance as presenter of the satirical programme "Have I Got News for You" Mr Neville was ridiculed by comedian Ian Hislop, who asked Neville to justify his role as a pundit for beIN Sports, which is owned by the Qatar state, when the Middle East country is under the spotlight due to its human rights record.
Mr Neville replied: "My view always has been that you either highlight the issues and challenges in these countries, and speak about them, or you bascially don't say anything and stay back home. I've always said we should challenge."
However, Hislop disagreed. “There’s another option," he told Neville. "You stay at home and highlight the abuses. You don’t have to go and take the Qatari's money.”
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