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Tory MPs can't stop jeering when Jeremy Corbyn asks questions from real people suffering hardship

Those on the Government's benches appear intent on ridiculing the concept of responding to individual voters' concerns

Mollie Goodfellow
Wednesday 28 October 2015 14:51 GMT
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Tories don't like Corbyn asking questions from the public

Conservative MPs continue to find amusement at the idea of questions from members of the public suffering hardship being put to the Prime Minister.

Leader of the Opposition Jeremy Corbyn continued his policy of highlighting the concerns of individual voters during Prime Minister’s Questions, this time posing a question from “Karen”, a full-time worker earning a living wage.

She asked “why working families were being punished” by the tax credits cut.

The question came on the back of the tax credit vote that was put on hold by the House of Lords on Monday evening.

But the moment Mr Corbyn said he was asking a question he had "been sent", many on the opposite benches began groaning, jeering and booing, seemingly ridiculing the concept of responding to problems faced by members of the general public.

It is the latest example of Tory MPs' apparent disdain for any focus on the impact of Government policy during PMQs, after many laughed when the Labour leader asked Mr Cameron about the effects of the housing crisis.

The Prime Minister replied to Karen’s question by saying: "If Karen is on the living wage she'll benefit from the tax free allowance of 11k, and childcare,” rather than address the working tax credits cuts directly.

Mr Corbyn asked Mr Cameron several times during the questions session about his pre-election promise not to cut tax credits for working people, but the PM refused to answer each time.

Before his first PMQs session last month, the newly elected Leader of the Opposition asked the electorate to submit questions, which he would then take to the Prime Minister during the question and answer session.

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