Andrew Neil receives grilling from 10-year-old girl during sugar tax debate

'Well, maybe you weren’t educated properly enough about health and wellbeing'

Best known for grilling politicians and cutting down celebrities, BBC veteran Andrew Neil appeared to have met his match while interviewing a schoolgirl.

The Daily Politics presenter was left red-faced after 10-year-old Charlotte from Wirrel delivered a cutting jibe towards Mr Neil during a debate about the sugar tax and the “nanny state” on the CBBC programme All Over the Workplace.

When asked by Mr Neil, “You know what I mean by the nanny state, the government telling you what to do, isn’t this just another example of the government trying to tell you what to do?” Charlotte, helped by a notebook of well-researched notes and statistics, replied: “Well Mr Neil, do you remember on January 31st 1983 when seatbelts were made compulsory?

“It wasn’t a popular idea. People didn’t like it. But do you know how many lives it saved a year? Three hundred lives per year because the government did something.”


 10-year-old Charlotte
 (BBC/ Youtube)

Responding, Mr Neil said: “"When I was your age and someone told me not to do something, that usually meant I tried to do it."

To which Charlotte dealt the cutting blow: “Well, maybe you weren’t educated properly enough about health and wellbeing."

Taken aback, the former editor of the Sunday Times humbly replied: “Many people have said that.”

Charlotte appeared on the CBBC special along with Henrietta from Worcester, also 10, who said during the debate on Friday: “If it's saving lives and helping the NHS, I think we should be told what to do.”

The debate took place before George Osborne announced a sugar tax on the soft drinks industry as part of the 2016 Budget.