GMB’s Ed Balls rages ‘what’s the point’ as stuttering MP fails to answer easy question

presenter was left up in arms after he skewered government minister Alex Norris during a heated debate about welfare reform cuts. During Monday’s visit (March 10) to the studios, the former MP, 58, and his co-host woke up the nation with the latest stories hitting the headlines.

This included King Charles III’s annual message for the Comonwealth Day’s 76th anniversary and claiming US economy is in “transition” as the trade war escalates. Later on in the show, the dynamic duo welcomed the Labour MP, 41, onto the programme to discuss the new welfare reform plans which could dramatically impact disabled Brits up and down the country. Later on this week, the government is planning to unveil more than £6billion of welfare savings which could come into effect as early as 2026.

This means there will be far tougher teses imposed for a key disability benefit, some payments frozen in 2026, and major changes to the way universal credit is calculated. Work and pensions secretary, Liz Kendall, has argued that the welfare system is broken and it is critical to get more people into work.

But it’s fair to say these changes are likey to cause huge backlash across the country. To learn more about the concerning changes, they welcomed the Parliamentary Under-Secretary politician onto the show to get more answers, but Mr Norris refused to answer one major question.

Ed pointed out: “Your prinicples in no way support people with extreme disabilities who can’t work, cutting benefits, and then you tell me that you can’t answer the question. So, what’s the point of coming on the programme is you can’t answer the question?

“Will people with extreme benefits who are unfit to work lose money? If you say no, we’ll all be reassured,” he insisted. But despite his repeated questions, Alex insisted that he wouldn’t confirm or deny any claims until the news is announced officially later this week.

He replied: “As I’ve said, I’ve set out the principles that will be guiding us. People who need support will get the support they need, everyone will see the full details in the days to come. You know, I’ve set the values out that will guide us and it will be announced in the conventional way.”

Ed pushed: “Is there any principle which would justify a cut in disability benefits for people who can’t work because they have extreme disabilities?” to which he replied: “Well, I’m not oing to run ahead of what’s going to be announced later in the week.”

After getting nowhere with his line of questioning, he concluded the interview saying: “Okay. Look, I tried, but thank you very much indeed Mr Norris, we appreciate you coming on.” It didn’t take long before fans flooded to X – formerly known as Twitter – to share their complaints online.

One user penned: “#GMB my son is severely disabled, can’t speak, will never be able to work, why is he being punished? He can’t answer the bloody question.” Another fumed: “If you think disability benefits are’too generous’, try being #disabled in the UK. Try the heating bills. The inaccessible housing. The £975/month boomerang back as hate against the self.”

A third echoed: “I get people can work and need help etc but there are people with disabilities who will never be able to work due to no fault of their own #GMB.” A fourth chimed in with: “Just saying all those people claiming benefits are committing fraud and don’t want to work, it’s ridiculous to say that every person on benefits wants to work, is actively looking and there are just no jobs out there for them. [eye-rolling emoji] #GMB.”

GMB airs on weekdays from 6am on ITV1 or catch up on ITVX.