Neville spoke from the heart
Gary Neville is gaining rousing support from people on social media after his powerful speech in response to Edwina Currie‘s comments regarding the impending cuts to universal credit.
Speaking in the early morning on October 6, Currie – a Tory party member and former politician turned writer-broadcaster – told Good Morning Britain that she thinks it “does not make sense to pay people to stay home”.
While co-host Susanna Reid was quick to point out that “40 per cent of people on universal credit are already in work”, the 74-year-old insisted that the majority of people aren’t and that the government is focusing on “educating” people on “how to make better choices about how they live and how they spend their money.
'To reduce universal credit payment at this time is brutal.'@GNev2 says this language is 'divisive and dangerous' and the government should 'work on the theory that people at home aren't sitting there lazy, they really want a good job.' pic.twitter.com/CKCFsHWaWI
— Good Morning Britain (@GMB) October 6, 2021
Naturally, many people were incensed by the suggestion that those who seek universal credit are just sat at home and either not working or not looking to better their circumstances in life – one of whom was Neville, who was quick to “translate what Edwina said for people up and down the country”.
He claimed that “it’s a message Conservative MPs have been entrenching in our mind for a long time” and the first thing she claimed is that “I’m/we’re ok here, which is the first thing a Conservative person does: they look after themselves”.
He then went on to say that Currie essentially told people to “go and get a job, get back to work you lazy sods, get off your backside”, before going on to point out the particularly divisive language and attitudes the Tories have continued to perpetuate: “Immigrants are all taking our jobs, homeless people are beggars on the streets” and so on.
Conversely, Neville suggested that he trusts the population of this country and that he works on the theory that “people at home aren’t sitting there lazy; they really want a good job, they really want to get good pay, they want their mental health to be sorted and they’re not sitting their thinking ‘I’ll take the Chancellor‘s money and live off their money for the next 10-15 years'”.
He rounded out his spot by reminding people how “divisive” this kind of language is, adding that it’s not only “not helpful” but “really dangerous” and that “to remove universal credit payments at this moment in time is brutal”. Fortunately, many people tended to agree with him.
Gary Neville will inevitably get lots of people telling him to “stick to football” but I feel he should be applauded for speaking so passionately and honestly about how he feels here. pic.twitter.com/PTIrBOY5vx
— HLTCO (@HLTCO) October 6, 2021
A tweet by Sam Bright of the Byline Times read like a reviewer’s quote on the movie poster of a gripping new social drama: “Gary Neville absolutely bulldozing Edwina Currie is a must-watch”.
The contrast of people's thoughts are almost contained in the 2 posts likes/interactions here. pic.twitter.com/mkgBJI5Ic6
— Erin (@ErinMSCFC1983) October 6, 2021
We also had a lot of time for this tweet which essentially reflects how Currie did, in fact, begin her interview:
https://twitter.com/HipsterMG/status/1445638183727742986?s=20
Meanwhile, in contrast to the echoes of “stick to football”, Adil Ray OBE simply tweeted: “Are footballers our new leaders?”
Related links:
- Everything you missed from Boris Johnson’s Conference speech
- Work and Pensions Secretary sings ‘I’ve had the time of my life’ on eve of historic benefit cuts
- Raab: ‘Misogyny is wrong whether it’s man against woman or woman against man’
