THE founder of the Big Issue has delivered the perfect response to a Tory MP who compared the UK to Venezuela.
John Bird blamed the Tory/LibDem coalition in 2010 for widespread austerity "destroying the lives of people in a community".
He described Nadhim Zahawi's comparison to Venezuela as "absolutely ridiculous" at the show in Middlesbrough on Thursday night.
He added: "Please don't make a comparison betweem Great Britain and Venzuela. That is absolutely ridiculous. One of the interesting points is ... let's get the history lesson right. It wasn't the Conservatives who did this, it was the coalition government. It was our mate Nick Clegg getting in bed with [David] Cameron and what they did was they didn't realise that the cost of austerity is too much.
"Austerity is so expensive because not only does it destroy the lives of people in a community, it actually affects their minds. It affects their wellbeing. The lack of libraries. The lack of schooling. The closing down of our high streets."
Zahawi, who is a supporter of Boris Johnson's controversial points-based immigration system, interrupted saying "you can't just say these things".
Bird went on: "All of these things happened and I can tell you as a person who has worked in this area for more than the last 10 years ... I can tell you that the cost of austerity has destroyed the community and made people feel as though there is no future.
"If you haven't got a future then it doesn't matter what a Conservative minister says."
Bird and Zahawi were joined by Labour's Jon Ashworth, editor of The Mirror Alison Phillips and lawyer Ayesha Vardag.
This one line perfectly describes the mood of so many who have been let down by governments over the last 40 years in this nation today - “If you haven’t got a future, it doesn’t matter what a Conservative minister says” #bbcqt
— Ben (@BenJolly9) February 27, 2020
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