What is really going on in politics? Get our daily email briefing straight to your inbox Sign up Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

A Question Time panelist exposed the true cost of Tory cuts in a blistering rant on the BBC show.

Novara Media journalist Ash Sarkar slammed the idea that austerity was 'bloodless', arguing that 120,000 people paid with their lives for the policy.

Her blistering broadside came after an audience member asked the panel about how the Government had suddenly found billions of pounds to fund Boris Johnson's spending promises.

Ash Sarkar said: "Austerity was not just a bloodless balancing of the books it was paid for with people's lives, 120,000 people.

(Image: BBC) (Image: BBC)

"The reason why I'm so angry and the reason why I think that gentleman yesterday was so angry is because those of us who rely on public services - whether it's the NHS, the education system, child protection or benefits - have had to endure suffering for a decade while we've heard the same line repeated by Tory MPs about having to end the deficit and how tough choices there are to be made.

"You didn't have to pay for those choices the way ordinary people did."

Ms Sarkar appeared to cite a 2017 joint study, by academics at Oxford, Cambridge and University College London which linked Tory cuts to public health spending in England with around 120,000 "excess deaths" between 2010 and 2017.

(Image: BBC) (Image: BBC)

During her speech, she referred to a father who hammered Boris Johnson over the state of the NHS when the pair met in Whipps Cross hospital on Wednesday.

The exchange between the two lasted almost two minutes after Mr Salem ambushed the Prime Minister on a visit to the hospital.

Her attack on Tory spending cuts received a mixed reaction on social media.

E.LJones tweeted: "Austerity is just an excuse to give rich people a tax break while hitting poor people the hardest and then right wing parties telling everyone in our society it’s all people on benefits/immigrants' fault."

One user, called Peeka, added: "Bravo! Well said. Some make it through the needless suffering the DWP & Jobcentre puts people through on behalf of the Tories and their voters... but the physical effects of such immense pressure stay with you forever."

However, some defended the Tory policy, arguing that the UK needed to reduce its national debt.