Caller who earns £100,000 with wife says he only has £600 to spend per week - after Hunt said it’s not a ‘huge salary’
25 March 2024, 09:44
A frustrated LBC caller has outlined how a £100,000 income shared between two people is not a 'good salary' following recent comments made by Chancellor Jeremy Hunt which sparked an angry backlash.
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Mr Hunt has faced anger over the remark he made as part of his work as MP for South West Surrey.
Speaking to Rachel Johnson on Sunday evening, the caller managed to convince the host by breaking down how far £100k gets him and his wife.
He said council tax, lighting, heating, his mortgage/rent, travel and insurance adds up to £3,500 per month for them.
At the end, he said he and his wife are left with only £2,500 which equates to £600 per week.
Ms Johnson agreed with his calculations saying "You are absolutely right, that is not very much."
Caller convinces Rachel Johnson that an 100k salary doesn't go far
The listener added: "It doesn't get us very far. We have to think about a cheap holiday rather than an extraordinarily expensive holiday".
Prior to the exchange, Ms Johnson described £100k as a "decent wage" which should cover mortgage costs childcare, foodbills and a holiday.
"In what universe is a hundred grand not enough?" she said.
She added she was surprised Mr Hunt "doubled down" on the claims following intense criticism.
She also questioned how the Tories may be "capable economic managers" but they "can't do politics for toffee".
Labour has called Jeremy Hunt "desperately out of touch" for the claims.
Mr Hunt made the remark on Twitter, about calls he had been making to residents during constituency work.
Labour said Mr Hunt's comments showed that the government was "desperately out of touch" with the lives of ordinary people.
In a post about constituency phone calls, the Chancellor had said: "I spoke to a lady from Godalming about eligibility for the government's childcare offer which is not available if one parent is earning over £100k.
"That is an issue I would really like to sort out after the next election as I am aware that it is not huge salary in our area if you have a mortgage to pay."
Rachel Johnson says the Tories 'can't do politics for toffee'
The UK's median gross annual salary for full-time employees was £34,963 in April 2023, according to the Office for National Statistics.
Shadow paymaster general Jonathan Ashworth said: "The Chancellor has again revealed how desperately out of touch the Tories are with working people when he claims someone earning £100,000 a year is not a 'huge salary'.
"The overwhelming majority of working people in this country would dream of earning that, yet they are all being made to pay the price of 14 years of Tory failure.
"It is staggering for the Chancellor to complain about mortgage costs when it was the Conservatives who crashed the economy with their kamikaze budget and sent mortgage costs through the roof.
