History of controversial comments by new Reform UK MP Lee Anderson

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. People who use food banks ‘cannot cook properly’ Tory MP claims there is no 'massive use' for food banks in UK Mr Anderson’s feelings on food banks first made headlines in May 2022, when he invited fellow MPs to visit a food bank in his constituency to witness a “brilliant scheme” – whereby those in receipt of food parcels are forced to “register for a budgeting and cooking course”. “Anybody earning 30-odd grand a year – which most nurses are – using food banks, then they’ve got something wrong with their own finances,” he told Times Radio in December. Challenging Brexit critic to a fight Conservative MP Lee Anderson was angered by Steve Bray’s question about ‘liar’ Boris Johnson Mr Anderson also raised eyebrows when he described an anti-Brexit protester as “a parasite”. I might have to get into a bit of shape first.” ‘Make nuisance tenants live in tents and pick potatoes’ Tory MP candidate Lee Anderson says 'nuisance tenants' should be forced to live in fields and pick potatoes at 6am every morning Before even entering the House of Commons, Mr Anderson sparked anger by posting a video on Facebook arguing during his election campaign that “nuisance tenants” should be forced to live in tents and pick potatoes.