BBC Breakfast's Sally Nugent shut down by Labour MP in awkward interview

During Monday's BBC Breakfast, Sally Nugent questioned Darren Jones, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, about Rachel Reeves' newly announced £500million fund, which is designed to support up to 200,000 vulnerable children.

Sally seized the chance to grill the MP with various queries, including questions about wealth taxation, which the politician was reluctant to address.

At one point, the BBC presenter enquired: "Will higher earners be taxed more to plug the blackhole in the government's finances at the moment?"

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Jones responded: "I'm not sure I agree with the definition of a black hole in the public finances, just to be clear. But, to answer your question on tax, I'm afraid, in the way that you probably expect me to answer, I'm not going to speculate on tax policy."

The MP explained to the BBC host that the government follows a formal procedure for announcing tax modifications, which occurs during budget announcements with the chancellor speaking from the dispatch box in the House of Commons, reports the Express.

Nevertheless, Nugent persisted in seeking an answer from the MP, pressing: "Ok, I don't want you to speculate, but I would like to know, what do you think of the idea of a wealth tax?"

Chuckling, Jones informed the BBC presenter that her question remained speculation about tax policy, stating: "As I've just set out, I'm afraid, I'm not going to do it."

She then probed further about the government's plans to maintain the freeze on tax thresholds, to which he responded: "That's also tax speculation, and as I say, any changes one way or another will be announced by the chancellor at the budget."

Sensing the interview wasn't going as expected, she humorously asked: "What can you tell us?!" The exchange quickly sparked reactions on social media, with many criticising Sally's interviewing style.

One viewer sarcastically remarked on X: "Darren Jones, having none of silly Sally's nonsense." While someone else said: "@sallynugent as an experienced journalist, you should be aware that Darren Jones will not disclose potential (or not) tax rises. Stop wasting his & our time. Presume we will be subjected to unanswerable questions up to the Autumn budget?"

Another person commented: "Another pointless interview from Sally Nugent. There are so many questions that need to be asked of the government, so stop wasting time asking questions that cannot be answered."

A different viewer added: "That interview was pretty irrelevant and a waste of time. Sally Nugent, not exactly pinning him to the door with laser-like questions."

One viewer shared their frustration: "Sally's interview with the chief sec to treasury is a failure *Asks him to speculate on future policy* "I cannot speculate on tax policy" *Rephrases question, pretending it isn't speculative* (laughing) "I cannot speculate" Ask better questions."

BBC Breakfast can be viewed on BBC iPlayer.