Susanna Reid has demanded help for struggling Good Morning Britain viewer Elsie after raising her plight with Boris Johnson during a tense interview on the ITV show.
After the Prime Minister boycotted GMB for almost five years, he sat down opposite Susanna in the study of 10 Downing Street on Tuesday, with the ITV presenter giving it to him both barrels on a range of contentious issues, from his own honesty to the severe repercussions of the sharp rise in the cost of living, brought about by a huge hike in energy prices.
Focusing on the latter , Susanna used 77-year-old Elsie as a case study, after she had got in touch with Good Morning Britain to share her struggle. Susanna told the PM that Elsie's energy bills have rocketed from £17 to £85 a month, totalling an additional £816 a year. She then detailed to Johnson the drastic and alarming steps Elsie is taking to try and save money, explaining : "To cut down on spending, Elsie has resorted to now eating one meal a day. She's 77 years-old, she's losing weight. She goes to the supermarket at the end of the day to get discounted yellow sticker items; she gets up early in the morning to use her Freedom bus pass to stay on buses all day to avoid using energy at home."
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Susanna then asked the PM: "What else should she cut back on?" He replied that he doesn't want her 'to cut back on anything,' as she then told him that Elsie didn't qualify for the council tax rebate, adding: "You can't say anything to help Elsie can you?"
Former BBC host and Strictly contestant Susanna has been widely praised for her grilling of Boris Johnson and, in an interview she gave on LBC in the aftermath of the much watched chat, she said the PM needed to get in touch with Elsie and help her. She said: "For every Prime Minister or party leader who deals with difficult case like that, the answer is not to revert to 'we're going to invest in the long term, we're making sure people have jobs, we've got this funds over there that can help.'
"The answer is to say 'that sounds dreadful for Elsie, I'd like to find out more about it and you know, if she would let me, I would get in touch with Elsie, as Prime Minister and I'd find out exactly what that means and see how we can help her.' That's the answer."
The clip of Susanna's LBC interview was shared on Twitter and, reacting to it,. one if her followers responded: "I absolutely totally agree with and well said Susanna Reid." Backing her calls for the PM to help, another replied: "And not only help Elsie but all the Elsies and all the families who are struggling."
Offering a different opinion, a third Twitter user commented: "I'm a pensioner on a fixed amount of money each month. Elsie is one of millions. Many journalist like Susanna like to put politicians on the spot, if Boris Johnson said he would sort out Elsie's heating bills out what would the rest of us do form a queue outside number 10?"
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