To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a webbrowser that supports HTML5video Martin Lewis has been commended for ‘sticking up for children living in poverty’ in an incredibly tense TV moment. The financial journalist , 52, was appearing on This Morning on Thursday when he weighed into a discussion about the rates of shoplifting rising in the United Kingdom. Hosts Alison Hammond and Dermot O’Leary were chatting to guests Nick Ferrari and Ashley James following reports that shoplifting had risen to a 20-year high, with 50 offences being recorded every hour.
Ashley James said she found it ‘heartbreaking’ to see how people were having to turn to shoplifting to feed their families in a first-world country, pointing to poverty as a likely reason for the rise. ‘We have 4.3 million children living in poverty, which translates to nine children in each class of 30 living in poverty,’ she explained.
However, Nick then claimed the rise was instead attributable to gangs and said he didn’t support the idea that people should resort to shoplifting to get by. ‘It’s incredibly rude to people watching this who are on struggle street and are counting every penny. They don’t go out and feel the need to steal.
They manage to balance the books,’ he said. ‘There is no possible justification to break the law.’ However clearly unimpressed, Martin, who was sitting to the side of the studio then jumped in.
‘Look, absolutely some of this is g.