A Tory MP has told nurses who use foodbanks that they need to "budget better and take responsibility."
Former levelling up secretary and Chief Secretary to the Treasury Simon Clarke made the inflammatory remark on the day thousands of nurses walk out in a row over pay and patient safety.
Mr Clarke, MP for Middlesbrough South and east Cleveland, claimed nurses should not be using foodbanks as they have an average salary of £35,000.
Speaking on BBC Radio Tees, the Oxford-educated Tory said: "If you are using foodbanks and your average salary is £35,000 a year then something is wrong with your budgeting because £35,000 is not a salary on which you want to be relying on foodbanks.
"I think we just need to be clear on this.
"This debate has got out of hand, the average nurse's salary is £35,000 and senior nurses earn up to about £47,000."
Pat Cullen, general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, voiced her fury at the remark.
She said: "To criticise anybody using a foodbank is disgusting, heartless and dangerously out of touch.
“I have toured the length and breadth of this country and met nursing staff from every corner of the nation - and their fear and fright about not being able to meet their bills is palpable.
“Sky-high inflation means some nursing staff are living on a financial knife-edge and even their own employer, NHS trusts across the country, are being forced to open food banks to feed their staff.
“This is not their fault – every nurse out there spends their professional and personal lives looking at how they can make savings. How they can treat more patients with less staff, how they can make their ever-decreasing budget stretch further."
And Ms Cullen continued: “When nurses are having to pay hundreds of pounds a month just to get to work, can’t afford to put food on the table, and are forced to cut back on shifts because they can’t afford ever-increasing childcare costs, something is seriously wrong."
Labour Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting said: "It is a badge of shame for the Conservatives that after 13 years in charge, nurses are forced to use food banks.
"It’s no wonder Tories are in denial about it. If the Government wasn't refusing to negotiate with nurses, they might understand the strain NHS staff are under."
His remarks were described as crass and out of touch by Labour MP Andy Macdonald, who represents Middlesbrough.
Mr Macdonald said: "He needs to get down to the picket line and speak to nurses directly.
"There are facilities in James Cook Hospital to help nurses with food stuffs, and other support. These Tory MPs are totally detached from reality.
"I think people understand now how distant they are from ordinary people's lives. They have no empathy and there is a huge gap now between their perception of the world, and the people who do the work."
Mr Clarke's comment sparked a furious reaction on social media, with Labour caseworker Sarah Freeney posting: "Simon Clarke seriously has not got a clue.
"Some family gas/electric bills in excess of £460 per month. Rent/mortgage plus utility bills are often taking up the majority of income.
"He needs to learn about essential outgoings."
Liberal Democrat Health Spokesperson Daisy Cooper said: “Is it any wonder the Conservatives can’t resolve this crisis when they can’t even get basic facts right.
"Two thirds of nurses earn significantly below the average wage and it takes nurses around 10 years to reach £32,000.
"With the cost of living crisis hammering hard working people from every angle, no Conservative MP should be criticising anyone's 'budgeting' skills, especially our life-saving nurses who go above and beyond for little in return."
Mr Clarke's comment echoes a similar view expressed by a Tory colleague about firefighters last month.
Bassetlaw MP Brendan Clarke-Smith sparked anger after posting on Twitter: "I respect the profession, but £32,244 and using a food bank? Never heard such a ridiculous thing in my life."
Today thousands of nurses across England are taking part in industrial action in a long running dispute over pay and patient safety.
Nurses on picket lines have spoken of their struggles as pressure mounts on the government to come up with an improved pay deal.
Rachel Morris, who has worked for the NHS for 30 years, today said several employers are now opening their own food banks to support staff or directing them to external support.
Rachel, who was on the picket line at the Florence Nightingale Hospital in Derby said: "What we have seen since the pandemic is the pressure on staff is still there, there are gaps in rotas, a lot of nurses are leaving the profession and choosing to take a slight pay cut of £2 or £3 an hour to go and work in a supermarket because they can see the benefit of not having the stress and burnout of working in this profession.
"Staff are feeling the hit in their pockets. We know that our members are going to food banks, we know they can't afford to put shoes and clothes on their children or afford a small break away to treat their families."
Nursing staff from more than 55 NHS trusts are taking part in industrial action today and and tomorrow, following two days of strikes last month.
The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has announced that two further, bigger strikes will be held in February if a deal is not reached, while the GMB union is expected to announce further ambulance worker strike dates later today.
Pat Cullen, chief executive and general secretary of the RCN, said nurses felt "totally heartbroken" going on strike, but felt they had no choice.
She told ITV's Good Morning Britain: "We will only recruit and retain our nurses if we pay them a decent wage so that they can continue to work in the health service and not have to leave to other jobs that will give them two or three pounds an hour more so they can pay their bills."
She said there were no further talks currently planned with the Health Secretary Steve Barclay.
Asked if "inflationary pay deals" would end up taking money out of the NHS, as Mr Barclay has said, she told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "We can either have our focus totally on balancing the books or we can continue to respect and treat this NHS as it should be for every single patient right throughout the country.
"So, we have to address the crisis within the NHS, you will only do that by paying nurses a decent wage and filling the 47,000 unfilled posts..."
Writing in the Independent, Mr Barclay said that, while he recognises the cost-of-living pressures on NHS staff, "unaffordable pay rises" will stoke inflation.
He said: "If we provide unaffordable pay rises to NHS staff, we will take billions of pounds away from where we need it most.
Unaffordable pay hikes will mean cutting patient care and stoking the inflation that would make us all poorer."
The Health Secretary insisted there is "much common ground" between both sides of the dispute, stating that ministers "want to work with union leaders to improve the NHS and deliver better care" and that a "fair way" to a resolution can be found.
On Tuesday, Mr Barclay signalled that pay negotiations will look ahead to next year rather than reflecting on the 2022/23 pay award, which unions have said must be reviewed.
He said: "I have had constructive talks with the Royal College of Nursing and other unions about the 2023/24 pay process and look forward to continuing that dialogue."
