30p Lee could fund 15,763 meals for children with the earnings he’s bagged from posting on Elon Musk’s X.
Analysis of Lee Anderson’s register of interests by The London Economic reveals he has taken £4,729 since December 2024 from the social media app.
And – as the Reform politician says low-income families could make a meal for just 30p – he could feed over 15,000 kids this Christmas, according to critics.
In May 2022, Anderson got the viral nickname of “30p Lee” after he claimed food banks are largely unnecessary because the main cause of food poverty is a lack of cooking and budgetary skills – and said that nutritious meals could be easily cooked for 30p a time.
“I think you’ll see first-hand that there’s not this massive use for food banks in this country,” he told the House of Commons.
“You’ve got generation after generation who cannot cook properly. They can’t cook a meal from scratch. They cannot budget.”
The remarks attracted fury from poverty campaigners, ministers and other MPs – but 30p Lee continued to question food bank usage regardless.
In a tweet following the incident, Anderson used one of his members of staff to double down on his point that nurses earning around £30,000 a year don’t need to use food banks.
He posted: “She [Katy] is single & earns less than 30k, rents a room for £775pcm in Central London, has student debt, £120 a month on travelling to work saves money every month, goes on foreign holidays & does not need to use a foodbank. Katy makes my point really well.”
As the hashtag “Poor Katy” started trending on X, Labour MP Dawn Butler claimed the tweet was a form of “bullying and harassment” and added she had reported him to the Commons authorities.
Read more of The London Economic’s coverage on Reform UK here.