THE host of BBC Breakfast clashed with a Labour minister in a live TV grilling.
In a tense interview on the BBC show on Friday morning, it was suggested that Treasury minister James Murray is “lacking in empathy”.
It came as Murray was pressed about concerns from palliative care charity Marie Curie who, alongside many charities across the UK, face cuts due to the hike in National Insurance contributions, which is coming into force on April 6.
During the show, Ruth Driscoll – associate director for policy and public affairs at Marie Curie – said her charity has "put a freeze on recruiting additional staff" as a result, adding that it is "making it difficult to reach the very large number of people who need end of life care".
Murray said it was a "really tough decision".
He then added: "I think we need to be clear why we took that tough decision and it was to make sure that we put the public finances back on a firm footing, and that we get public services back on their feet. And we can now see that waiting lists in the NHS have been coming down for five months in a row. That's really important to making sure people across the country are well healthy, and also to supporting economic growth."
'I recognise it's tough' Treasury Minister James Murray was questioned on #BBCBreakfast after Marie Curie warned the increase in National Insurance employer contributions will cost the cancer care charity an additional £3m this year pic.twitter.com/6gZHq2yIYk
— Peter Stefanovic (@PeterStefanovi2) April 4, 2025
But BBC host Nina Warhurst hit back (above) and said Marie Curie "provide a valuable public service”.
She added: "You are taking specialist nurses away from hospices. What you're actually doing is putting more pressure on the NHS by not providing charities with an exemption [from NICs increases]."
Murray then said he was not "downplaying the tough decisions that businesses" are needing to make.
But Warhurst replied: "People will be watching and saying, in your response, you're lacking empathy. If I was somebody with a parent waiting for palliative care, waiting for cancer support, and a charity could not provide that specialist excellent care because they've had to contribute £3 million annually more because of these changes. Are you comfortable with that?"
Murray said: "I very much recognise, as I said a few moments ago, the work that Marie Curie and other organisations do is so important to people across the UK, and I'm not downplaying the fact that a tough decision the government had to take last October in the budget means difficult decisions that organisations and charities across the country now have to take themselves in how they operate.
"I think what's really important to underline, though, is is why we took that decision, because it's a difficult decision, but it's one that was really necessary to get public services back on their feet. And I think people who are waiting for hospital appointments, people waiting to see their GP, people waiting to see any services the NHS provides, need to make sure there is funding there for public services."
