Sally Nugent praised for 'skewering' Victoria Atkins in heated BBC Breakfast row
Sally Nugent has been praised for "completely skewering" the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care.
During BBC Breakfast's show on Wednesday morning, hosts Sally and Ben Thompson were joined by Conservative MP Victoria Atkins. She made an appearance on the programme to discuss the government's plans surrounding the crisis in NHS dental care. However, things quickly got heated as Sally and Victoria ended up in a blazing row.
The Health Secretary started by explaining the new Dental Recovery Plan, where she said: "From the moment someone is in their mum's tummy, we are offering help for pregnant mums, all the way through to adulthood to ensure we are helping children get onto the right start for life. Help in nursery settings and family hubs, all the way through to increasing the premiums we pay to dentists to take on new patients under NHS contracts."
Sally Nugent and Victoria Atkins got into a heated row on BBC Breakfast (BBC)She added: "I am very much confident through this new plan, we will be delivering two and a half million more dental NHS appointments over the coming years." Sally asked how their plan is different to Labour's proposals, as they "are really quite similar". Ms Atkins chimed in: "I remember that interview and I thought BBC Breakfast gave my opponent a bit of a going over because actually Labour's plans are only offering a further 700,000 appointments."
Host Sally said: "I am really sorry to interrupt you but we are short on time and I want to keep it really simple for the people who are watching at home. All of this is going to cost money. How are you funding it, are you funding it via an underspend in the budget?" Ms Atkins replied: "We are spending £3 billion a year on NHS dentistry, this is an additional."
Naga Munchetty and co-stars bid farewell to BBC Breakfast colleague amid exit
Sally interjected: "Is that an underspend? Just a couple of minutes ago on this progamme it was said there is a £3 billion underspend in the NHS budget for dentistry." Ms Atkins said: "It is an additional £200 million. We are spending a lot of money on NHS dentistry, understandably so but we want to turbo charge this because we know that it is very difficult for some people to get NHS appointments." She went on to explain that more dentists will be trained.
Sally quipped: "Great, but I just want to bring you back to the £200 million figure because am I right in thinking that actually the budget for NHS dentistry has dropped by £500 million since 2014. So you might be putting in an extra £200 million but that's from a point where the budget is hugely smaller than it was 10 years ago." The Health Secretary replied: "A lot has happened since 2014."
Sally asked: "It has dropped hasn't it?," to which Ms Atkins responded: "We have a budget of £200 million, which is a lot of money." A frustrated Sally said: "Just to bring you back one more time, is the budget lower than it was?" The MP said: "The budget is £3 billion," as Sally asked again: "Is that lower than it was?"
Avoiding the question, Ms Atkins said: "As I say, we are spending more on the NHS than we ever have." "Is that lower than it was?," Sally repeated. Ms Atkins insisted: "It is a £3 billion budget," as Sally asked again: "Is it lower?" The Health Secretary quipped: "A lot has happened in of what you are talking about."
"So that is a yes," Sally said as Ms Atkins replied: "As I say this is additional money of £200 million on top of the £3 billion." Sally quipped: "Additional after a budget cut." A frustrated Ms Atkins declared: "It is a little bit rich for Labour to be lecturing us," but Sally told her: "Victoria Atkins, it is not Labour asking you these questions it is me."
Viewers at home praised Sally for how she handled the interview. Taking to X, one said: "VICTORIA ATKINS is actually INSULTING Sally Nugent (and the intelligence of the audience) by repeatedly giving a long series of deeply dishonest answers to a direct question." Another added: "Victoria Atkins completely skewered by Sally Nugent. Car crash." Someone else quipped: "When is a Tory mp interview ever anything other than a car crash?!."
Read more similar news:
Comments:
comments powered by Disqus
