Fiona Bruce fact-checked a minister on Question Time last night when he tried to put a positive spin on UK growth figures.
The minister for food, farming and fisheries Mark Spencer was trying to talk up the Conservatives’ success with the economy when the BBC host brought him back down to Earth.
He said: “The good news is we’ve just started to turn a corner, we’ve just started to get inflation back under control, we’ve got growth going again.
“We’re actually growing faster than the US, Italy, Germany and France.”
“Mark, you know that is only if you look at one quarter,” Bruce cut in.
“If you look at GDP pre-pandemic, we are much lower than the eurozone average.
“Our GDP is 1.7% higher than it was pre-pandemic, the US average is 8.7%. You’re cherry picking your figures.”
The camera cut to the audience at this point to show several people in the crowd smiling at her correction.
Spencer just carried on: “My point is, we have literally turned the corner, we’ve just got ourselves back on track.
“I think that’s good news for us as a nation because it means that now, as the economy continues to grow, because of the challenging decisions that Rishi made as a prime minister, we can then invest in all of the things that people are talking about and care about.”
Inflation has just dropped down to 2.3%, its lowest rate since the cost of living crisis began in 2021.
However, the public are still feeling the pinch because food and energy prices are still around 20% more expensive than they were three years ago.
Spencer also faced the public’s fury later on in the programme over the pollution of our water supplies.
One member of the audience angrily said, “we have been let down by the government” as well as the water companies on this issue.
Meanwhile, another member of the audience said she was “sick to death about hearing politicians wanting to make savings”.
She said: “Where are my taxes going? Where are the taxes of everyone in this room going?
“Why are you not taxing billionaires and millionaires?
“Why is Jeff Bezos of Amazon making billions of pounds while his workers in Coventry here, who work for Amazon, are on benefits, are struggling to pay their bills?
“What are you all doing about that? Are you best mates with them? Why are you not doing anything about that?”