A MEMBER of the Question Time audience took aim at a Tory minister on Thursday night, telling him his party “deserve to lose”.

Food minister Mark Spencer was among the guests on the BBC’s flagship political programme, with the latest episode broadcast from Coventry.

It marked the first edition of the programme since Rishi Sunak called a General Election on Wednesday.

Speaking to Spencer, one audience member said: “Mark, I think you need to read the room a bit. When you said that you’ve delivered for the country and that the economy has turned a corner, people round here laughed at you because no one is feeling it.

“You know, you take a walk now through Coventry city centre, it’s changed. I mean people having to choose between heating their homes and feeding their kids, the NHS is on its knees, knife crime and youth violence is rising all over the country.

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“Your party has let us down over the last 14 years. You’re going to lose, you’re going to lose terribly and you’re going to deserve to lose.”

Spencer replied to say he acknowledged the UK is facing “huge challenges,” and pointed to the war in Ukraine driving food and energy prices “through the roof”.

“We’ve seen a global pandemic which cost the country billions and billions of pounds and the shock of that of course it has led to long waiting lists in the NHS,” he added.

The minister added that the only way to solve the issues was with a “strong economy” but added: “I’m not saying for a second that all things are rosy in the garden because of those challenges we face but my point is that we’ve just started to turn that corner and the economy now is starting to grow.

“Not my words, the Bank of England, the OBR and the IMF are all saying that we’ve now turned the corner and we’re improving.”