“Calling through creepy crawlies is the least he deserves.” – Labour’s Wes Streeting criticises Matt Hancock’s decision to appear on I’m a Celebrity
He said: “I am not a celebrity and politicians are not celebrities. We are people in a position, a privileged position, actually given to us by constituents who put their trust and faith to send us the parliament to act on their behalf to serve their interests. That’s what we should be doing.
“People who tune in to watch that programme will think he’s representative of politicians more generally and I don’t think that’s fair.
“Actually, what I can tell you on a unifying cross-party note, and we’ve had lots of divisions in Westminster behind me, we will all be hitting the phones to make sure that Matt Hancock gets more than his fair share of bushtucker trials.
“Calling through creepy crawlies is the least he deserves.”
In an interview with Isabel Webster and Paul Hawkins on GB News, he said: “The argument that’s been made is that this is about reaching a different audience. I don’t have a problem with politicians going on all sorts of light entertainment programmes and places where you reach a slightly different audience.
“I think politics has turned a lot of people off, and we’ve got a lot of work to do to rebuild trust.
“But it’s such a big commitment of time, in another country, detached from the real world. Whether it’s Matt Hancock’s constituents, or indeed the Covid bereaved families that are feeling aggrieved – I think he’s let himself down, but I think he’s also let political life down as well.”
Meanwhile, when asked where Labour public spending plans are, Mr Streeting said: “Where we are making specific pledges, we’re showing where that money would come from. So with our NHS workforce expansion, that will be funded by abolishing the non-dom tax status. We woll show how much it would cost and where the money will come from.
“In terms of overall public spending, until we’re closer to a general election it won’t be clear what the fiscal outlook is, because so much depends on the economy. And that’s why Rachel [Reeves]…the shadow Chancellor, is putting together a serious plan for economic growth.
“Because if the economy had grown under the Conservatives by as much as it had under the last Labour government, there’ll be £30 billion to spend on public services or to give back to people through tax cuts without having to find savings or efficiencies or hiking up taxes elsewhere.
“There’ll just be £30 billion more so the consequences of a low growth economy is that we have the worst of all worlds which is high taxes and cuts to public services. That’s the broken model.
“We’ve got a serious plan for growth and that’s why you’ve got people like the chairman of Tesco saying that when it comes to a serious plan for growth, Labour’s the only team on the pitch.”
