Simon Marks 3pm - 7pm
'It's a source of embarrassment': Nick Ferrari challenges Labour's Lisa Nandy on Rachel Reeves' luxury flight
23 May 2023, 08:58
Lisa Nandy comments on Rachel Reeves' luxury flight
Shadow Housing Secretary Lisa Nandy was quizzed by Nick Ferrari on the "hypocrisy" of the Shadow Chancellor's recent social media faux pas.
Labour MP Rachel Reeves posted to her Twitter a picture of her flying to the United States of America which was later reposted, looking to have been photoshopped to remove details of her plane ticket. Now the image has been removed from her social media entirely.
Nick Ferrari questioned Shadow Housing Secretary, Lisa Nandy, on the social media debacle: "A few weeks ago Labour criticised government ministers for living a 5-star luxury lifestyle of international trips and hotel stays.
"And we now know that your front bench colleague Rachel Reeves has flown business class to New York and is now open to accusations of hypocrisy.
"How hypocritical was it?" he asked.
"We've certainly criticised Rishi Sunak before for flying to the North of England in a plane," Ms Nandy began.
"I mean part of the reason that that has annoyed a lot of people, including me, is because I am pretty sure he did that because the trains are so appallingly bad.
"And for those of us who struggle on trains every week, every day, that does stick in the throat," she explained.
The Cross Question panellists debate Suella Braverman's speeding fiasco
"Frankly, Rachel has flown over to the United States - who is going to be tasked with leading us out of this mess in eighteen months' time - to talk about how we are going to attract investment into the UK and created good jobs for constituencies like mine in Wigan,"
Ms Nandy asserted: "And I care more about that than where she sits on a plane."
Listen and subscribe to Unprecedented: Inside Downing Street on Global Player
Nick challenged the deletion of the tweet: "If it hadn't been taken down I wouldn't be doing the story, but because it's been taken down surely it's a source of embarrassment."
The Labour MP declared her lack of social media understanding and mentioned that Rachel Reeves was likely not in charge of posting to social media platforms.