‘Do you think people are stupid?’ – Tory candidate grilled in radio interview

Conservative candidate Priti Patel has endured a tough interview about her party’s manifesto with the BBC’s Eddie Mair.

The PM presenter said the Institute for Fiscal Studies had said that while the manifesto included details of the “good stuff” the Tories were promising, there was nothing about the “bad stuff”.

Ms Patel was asked where spending cuts would be made and how the £8bn extra a year for the NHS would be funded.

She said her party’s £30bn “consolidation” would mean £13bn of savings across government departments, £12bn of welfare cuts, and £5bn saved from clamping down on tax avoidance and evasion – and that the extra money for the NHS would come from “having a strong economy”.

Asked if she thought “people are stupid”, she said: “No, we don’t and I think that’s absolutely the wrong assertion to make…”