Secretary of State for Culture Lisa Nandy was handed her marching orders by a firebrand Express journalist who put the Labour veteran firmly in her place.

To a packed Birmingham hall, panellists Conservative MP Alicia Kearns, Lib Dem MP Jess Brown-Fuller, chef Tom Kerridge and journalist Esther Krakue were hosted by the BBC’s Fiona Bruce slightly later than usual at 10.40pm due to later coverage of the significant Gorton and Denton by-election in Greater Manchester.

Nandy said in answer to Tom Kerridge’s speech about the difficulties faced by hospitality businesses under Labour: “It drives me up the wall when politicians turn around and say to people everything’s fine when the people who are living it know it’s really tough. They are telling us it’s tough and I’ve heard it, I get it.”

When host Fiona Bruce stepped in to point out it was tough because of the policies of Nandy’s government, the minister went on to explain how the hikes in business rates faced by hospitality firms were due to the lower rate in place due to Covid relief coming to an end.

“If we had continued that we would have had to pay for it,” she said. “There was no money allocated to pay for it past those few years that it existed.

“And so what we did is we found billions of pounds in the budget to help people transition off that relief and when we were told by people including Tom that wasn’t sufficient, the Chancellor has gone back and found more that we are putting back particularly into pubs and live music venues.”

To an audience which looked sceptical, she outlined how the government had taken money to invest in growth, which was leading to a reduction in inflation. She said she appreciated “people were not seeing that yet” but that it was coming online because changes like the rise in the minimum wage “were putting money in people’s pockets.”

“We are listening and we are not afraid to do things differently.”

The Express’s Esther Krakue took the moment to lambast Nandy for Labour’s destructive U-turns.

“The first thing I got from travelling around the country is that Keir Starmer is exceptionally spineless as a politician,” she said.

“Politicians don’t understand our lives because you have these people insulated from real life by this political-policy complex.”

When Nandy attempted to interrupt her, Krakue held up her hand and told her firmly to “hold on!”

She continued, “Inflation has not come down because of anything the government has done, it’s come down because global energy prices have come down.”

Krakue explained how instead of enacting a windfall tax on big banks and other financial institutions, Chancellor Rachel Reeves had instead whacked higher taxes on small businesses.

The journalist kept up the momentum of her point despite repeated attempts to interrupt by Nandy: “That is a decision made by this government. I am sorry but you are gaslighting the British people!”

“This government doesn’t have any understanding or idea what business people and everyday people are facing in this country.”

She continued to outline how the policies of the Labour government, such as increases in business rates and minimum wage, had created a perfect storm for businesses and left them unable to hire younger people, who were now facing the highest unemployment rate in Europe.