Jeremy Hunt and Emma Barnett clash in heated Radio 4 interview: ‘You’re not listening’

Jeremy Hunt and Emma Barnett in heated clash during Radio 4 interviewSource: BBC Radio 4 Today

Transcript

00:00 We've been through a very, very difficult period with a pandemic, an energy crisis.

00:04 And your government, you know, we had Liz Truss for just a few days and some of the

00:08 shocks still being felt by the more than a million who will be coming out of their mortgages this year

00:13 and having to pay much higher prices.

00:16 Well, I accept that mistakes were made and the first thing I did as Chancellor was to correct...

00:21 More than mistakes, Mr Hunt.

00:23 Well, let me answer the question. Mistakes were made and I corrected those mistakes and Rishi

00:28 Sunak did as one of the first things we did. But it is wrong to say that the pressures that people

00:34 are feeling, the majority of those pressures are from that short period. Living standards...

00:39 I didn't say that.

00:39 ...have fallen by more. Well, let me just...

00:41 No, no, no. But it's important for me to make sure that I seem accurate to our listeners.

00:44 Yeah, no, no.

00:44 Because I very clearly didn't say that.

00:46 Well, let me answer your question accurately then, Emma, because the point I'm making is

00:49 living standards have fallen by more in Germany, Austria or Sweden. And so the majority of what

00:56 people are feeling is as a result of a global pandemic and an energy shock.

01:00 And some political mismanagement.

01:01 What the IMF said yesterday is that the difficult decisions that we've taken in the last

01:06 18 months mean are paying off. That was the precise words that were used.

01:10 Yes, but today I suppose you can't...

01:12 The IMF say that means that we are now in a good place going forward.

01:15 OK.

01:16 And in an election year, you know, what I will be saying is those difficult decisions,

01:21 which mean actually going back to 2010, that we've created more jobs than nearly anywhere

01:25 else in Europe. That's happened because conservative governments have taken difficult

01:29 decisions on a flexible labour market, on getting down taxes...

01:32 Can you actually say that with a straight face?

01:34 Mr Hunt, may I break in?

01:35 Labour governments would not take...

01:37 May I break in?

01:38 So that's why it's really important that we continue...

01:41 I'm worried that we've just we've not able to be heard.