Theresa May faces up to tough questions on air
Prime Minister Theresa May toured the TV studios over the Bank Holiday weekend as she sought to cement her lead in the polls, but she faced tough questions about pensions, nurses who turn to food banks, future tax pledges and her religious beliefs. This i
DURING broadcast interviews over the weekend, Mrs May revealed: She would not increase VAT; She would not guarantee the pensions triple lock will stay in place; and
She wants to reduce taxes on “working people”.
Here are some of the key exchanges from a heavyweight round of interviews... 1. Why are nurses having to use food banks?
Mr Marr told Mrs May that nurses have had a 14% pay cut since 2010, according to the Royal College of Nursing.
When told “that must be wrong,” Mrs May said: “There are many complex reasons why people go to food banks”.
The Conservative leader said she wanted an economy where people had secure, well-paid and higherpaid jobs.
She said: “You are only going to be able to do this if you have a Government that understands the importance of that strength in the economy.
“If you look at the proposals that the Labour party are coming forward with, they are nonsensical proposals which simply don’t add up and would actually lead to less money being available for the National Health Service, less money available for public sector pay and higher taxes on people.” 2. Will VAT, National Insurance and income tax go up?
David Cameron pledged not to increase these taxes in 2015. Will Theresa May make the same promise?
The Prime Minister told Mr Peston: “We won’t be increasing VAT.”
She told Mr Marr: “We have absolutely no plans to increase the level of tax. But I’m also very clear that I don’t want to make specific proposals on taxes unless I’m absolutely sure that I can deliver on those.”
Setting out her hopes that taxes could go down, the PM told Mr Peston: “We absolute want to reduce taxes on working families.” 3. Will the “triple lock”, which ensures pension go up by at least 2.5%, stay in place?
Mrs May was asked if the rules which ensure pensions rise by wages, inflation or by 2.5% will stay in place.
She said: “Under a Conservative Government the state pension will still go up every year over the next parliament.”
But she added: “Exactly how we calculate that increase will be for the manifesto.” 4. Is gay sex a sin?
After Lib Dem leader Tim Farron was earlier asked to clarify his own view on the issue, Mr Marr asked Mrs May if her religious beliefs led her to consider gay sex sinful.
Mrs May said: “No.” 5. Was she wrong to vote for the invasion of Iraq?
Mr Marr questioned if on this issue Jeremy Corbyn – who opposed the war – got it right while she made the wrong decision.
He asked: “If you knew then what you knew now would you still have voted for the Iraq war?”
She said: “That’s a hypothetical, Andrew. You can only vote at any point in time on what you know.
“I voted in the way that I thought was right when that vote came into parliament.” 6. Did she call the election because Tories could be facing charges over election expenditure?
Mr Marr said: “Some people think the reason that you called this election is that 30 Conservative candidates and/or agents are under investigation by the Crown Prosecution Service and could be facing charges quite soon. Can I ask you if that issue was discussed at all when you were discussing [the election]?
Mrs May responded: “That is not the reason why this election has been called. Let’s be clear in relation to the Electoral Commission issue, local spending was properly declared.
“The Conservative party did make an administrative error on its national spending, as did other parties. We have paid our fine.”