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A Tory MP has blocked one of the BBC's best-known TV hosts on Twitter after she repeated word-for-word his comments about food banks.

Victoria Derbyshire was barred from seeing Dominic Raab's profile as he faced a backlash for posing with food bank volunteers in his constituency.

The ex-Brexit Secretary is one of a string of Tory MPs who have posted pictures of themselves with the charities in recent weeks.

The trend has sparked outrage among anti-austerity activists. Foodbank charity the Trussell Trust handed out a record 1.3million emergency parcels last year - and 41% of users say benefit delays or changes are the main reason they begged for handouts.

Mr Raab posted his photo on November 30, writing: "Thank you to Tesco in Molesey and the Trussell Trust for partnering to encourage customers to generously provide food collections for families in our community, who are struggling at this time of year."

(Image: @dominicraab/Twitter)

Ms Derbyshire pointed out he had blamed soaring food bank use on people who had a "cash flow problem" - insisting they were not "languishing in poverty".

Later she found herself blocked.

"I repeated verbatim what Mr Raab said about people who use food banks.." she wrote.

(Image: PA)

Mr Raab made the comments in the run-up to last year's general election during a debate on Ms Derbyshire's BBC show.

He said at the time: "I've studied the Trussell Trust data.

"What they tend to find is the typical user of a foodbank is not someone that's languishing in poverty, it's someone who has a cash flow problem episodically."

(Image: @dominicraab/Twitter)

It came as former Work and Pensions Secretary Esther McVey refused calls to say "sorry" for problems with the six-in-one benefit Universal Credit.

Instead she stood by her insistence that it "makes work pay" and hailed her own achievement in getting more than £4billion extra pumped in.

Ms McVey also cast doubt on Trussell Trust warnings that UC sent foodbank demand soaring 52% and 70% of recipients find themselves in debt.

She told Sky News' Sophy Ridge on Sunday: "Well the Trussell Trust there, you’ve got to look at where the source is coming from.

(Image: NEIL HALL/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)

"Who has been interviewed to give those comments - those are from people coming into the Trussell Trust.

"So those results weren't authenticated, they weren’t verified as such."

Ms McVey did however join her successor, new DWP chief Amber Rudd, in calling for the £4billion benefit freeze, due to finish in 2020, to be lifted a year early.

She said: "We’ve now got to look at the freeze on benefits. Do we still need that. Maybe not."