A Tory MP says the UK will only have a "big problem" with the economy when Wetherspoons pubs are empty - and claims children only go hungry because of lazy parents. Lee Anderson made the claims in a searing rant to young Conservative party members, adding that food banks are only set up by "do-gooders" who want to "make themselves feel good."
Anderson also reiterated his claim that families could easily cook homemade meals for just 30p and blasted the UK's "generous" benefits system. Attacking the BBC, he told supporters not to pay their TV licence fees and said that those who want to get on the property ladder should be working seven days a week, the Mirror reports.
The Ashfield MP - who boycotted England's Euro 2020 campaign after players took the knee - claims full football stadiums and packed pubs show that the economic situation is not as dire as experts say. Speaking at the party conference in Birmingham, the 55-year-old said: "Go in any Wetherspoons, that's the barometer of how this country is doing, when Wetherspoons is empty we've got a big problem."
