Sheffield Heeley MP Louise Haigh’s top 5 moments on tearful BBC Question Time

New Labour MP Louise Haigh appeared on BBC Question Time last night as a heated debate on Conservative tax credit cuts left one member of the audience in tears.
Louise Haigh MP outside ParliamentLouise Haigh MP outside Parliament
Louise Haigh MP outside Parliament

The 28-year-old, who was elected at the May General Election and is a shadow digital minister, was a panellist on the BBC political show held in Dover alongside Conservative Energy Secretary Amber Rudd, historian Simon Sharma, UKIP MEP Roger Helmer and columnist Rod Liddle.

The show was overshadowed by a woman who burst into tears when tackling Amber Rudd about tax credit cuts but whose comments went unanswered.

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The woman said: “I work hard for my money and you are going to take it away from me and then. You’re going to take more from me. Shame on you.”

Here’s what Louise had to say during the show that covered Europe, the state of hte Labour party, Syria and grammar schools.

1) SYRIA

Britain has 200 Syrian refugees in the country and 3000 are arriving every day in Greece. David Cameron is the only European leader that has refused to coperate in the European relocation scheme. How can you [Amber Rudd] ask our European partners to do anymore than they are already doing? At the beginning of the summer David Cameron described these people as a swarm. We need to very seriously reflect on the kind of society we want to project to the world.”

2) LABOUR CHAOS

“There is absolutely no chaos going on in the Labour party at the moment. We had quite a feisty meeting on Monday, there are people who have very deeply held views about the way the Labour Party should go and how we should oppose this horrendous Government. When people feel strongly about that it gets heated. I’m not embarassed about that, this is a new way of doing politics. I’m proud that we are a new democtratic Labour Party and people can air their views.”

3) EUROPE

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“[Leaving Europe] puts at risk for Britain, the billions of investment that we get as a country each year, and the tens of thousands of jobs that depend on that investment. It puts at risk the protections we all enjoy as working people that stops member states competing for a race to the bottom.

David Dimbleby: “Would you vote out?”

“No, I’m a firm supporter of Europe.”

4) REDCAR

“We get a net benefit out of Europe. I worry that David Cameron is there negotiating on the behalf of his back benchers, rather than in Britain’s interest. I think he should be going out there and campaigning for changes to state aid which would have enabled him to intervene in the decline of the steelworks in Redcar this week.”

5) GRAMMAR SCHOOLS

“There are reams of objective evidence to show disadvantaged students do worse in selective areas. Obviously there are excellent grammar schools but is it any wonder those schools are doing better when they can cherry pick students at age 11?

Just as some of the best performing academies are doing now because they are are expelling more difficult students after entry, it’s just a differnt kind of solution, post-entry.

“I would hope gramnmar schools would move away from selection.”