Kate Garraway forces apology from Jake Berry

Jake Berry's clumsy apology over 'get a new job' comment

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Conservative Party chairman Jake Berry was grilled by ITV presenter Kate Garraway following his comments on rising bills, receiving a huge backlash earlier in the week. The Good Morning Britain host demanded the Rossendale and Darwen MP clarify his views, and he apologised before weighing in on the possible nurses strike.

Berry has apologised for suggesting people struggling with their bills should “get a new job” and “cut their consumption”.

Critics have branded his comments as “out of touch”, considering the chairman earns an annual salary of £120,000 for his work with the Conservative Party.

Speaking to Garraway on Thursday morning, Berry doubled back on his comments after realising they may have been considered insensitive.

Garraway asked: “What would you advise a nurse to do when she looks at her pay packet? They can’t go out and get another job, can they?”

“Because that would mean leaving the profession. So your advice, when you look at your pay packet, you can’t cut back anymore, to go and get a better job. How does that work for our nurses?”

The Tory chair replied: “Well, thank you for giving me the opportunity to clarify the comments I’ve made.

“I accept, actually, they were ever so clumsy, and I’m sorry if people have misinterpreted it. It was part of a larger interview.

“The real point I was trying to make, in a terrible and clumsy way, is the approach of the government is to grow the economy to ensure that families, when they receive things like their energy bills, don’t have that huge bill shock.”

Berry praised the government’s current plan to tackle rising energy bills, which have now been capped at £2,500 for typical unit use.

As the MP finished his apology by accepting he had made his point clumsily, Garraway cut across him to clarify how economic growth would benefit nurses considering going on strike for the first time.

“How does growing the economy right now affect a nurse who, emotionally fears for the first time she might have to go on strike because she’s using a food bank to get by?” Garraway asked.

“Because she’s scared for the safety of people she’s there to look after because she can’t do the basics like washing, and the risks that may lead to.”

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“I don’t think of nurses as a huge group of people and me not knowing them,” Berry explained.

“I think of the people who let me and my sister in, probably in breach of the very tight rules we had at the time, to see my mother when she was dying to say goodbye to her. They do fantastic work.”

In his interview with Sky News, Berry said: “People know that when their bills arrive, they can either cut their consumption or they can get a higher salary, higher wages, go out there and get that new job.

“That’s the approach the government is taking so households can afford their bills.”

Deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner hit back: “These comments show just how out of touch with reality Liz Truss’s Tories are.

“Jake Berry thinks people consigned to low pay can simply magically upgrade to a higher wage job. This is a Tory crisis, created in Downing Street, paid for by working people.”

The Royal College of Nursing is currently balloting nurses to strike for the first time in 106 years to demand a pay rise of 5% above the RPI inflation rate of 12 percent.

Good Morning Britain airs weekdays from 6am on ITV.

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