Reform MP Danny Kruger was left red-faced after he was called out by Fiona Bruce over his party’s welfare cuts claims on Question Time.
On Thursday’s evening’s edition of the BBC panel show, Kruger was a guest on the panel alongside Foreign Office minister Jenny Chapman, former Tory minister Michael Gove and FBU General Secretary Steve Wright.
Whilst much of the discussion on the programme focused on the Labour leadership chaos and what looks like a looming leadership contest, at one point the panel were asked about welfare spending.
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The question posed to them was” ‘Should we cut welfare to boost defence spending?’
Of course, cutting welfare spending is one of Reform’s big plays, along with their anti-immigration rhetoric and pledges to deport hundreds of thousands of people.
The party reckon they can slash £10bn from the welfare budget, a line that Tory-turned-Reform MP Kruger was quick to spout.
A line that Reform voices are also eager to parrot is that they will ‘get rid of benefits for people with mild anxiety.’
This was repeated by Kruger on the programme, prompting host Fiona Bruce to come back to it once Kruger was done talking.
She said: “Just coming back to the cuts in welfare, because I’ve heard Reform say this every time asked, ‘we’d get rid of benefits for people with mild anxiety’.
Bruce rightly then asked Kruger: “What percentage of the welfare bill do those people make up?”
His response? He hasn’t got a scooby.
“I don’t know what that number is, Fiona,” Kruger responded, prompting laughs from the audience.
The presenter then asked: “How can you possibly know it’s going to save you £10 billion?”
The East Wiltshire MP said he didn’t “know every fact and figure,” with Bruce hitting back: “You’ve just given us a fact which is £10 billion, but you have no idea how you’d get it.”
Kruger insisted he could “stand that up later if you like”.