On February 23, local time, Therese Coffey, the British Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, put herself on the "hot search" with just one or two sentences, although this should not be a good thing for her.
Speaking in the House of Commons, Coffey, 51, while admitting that the cost-of-living crisis was "really tough" for British families, she immediately threw out her opinion: "If you can't afford food, work harder!" ”
"One of the best ways for people to increase their income is to work more hours, improve their skills and earn more," Coffey added.
Whether or not this is true, it is clearly inappropriate to say it from the mouth of a minister, for which the British newspapers label her statement "appalling", and critics further refer to her as "disaster Corfei".
But Disaster Corfi didn't stop there, and she went on to say that the shortage of some fresh produce could last another month. In response to the recent difficulty for British people to eat tomatoes, a more common vegetable, Coffey said, "Now many people will eat radish, instead of necessarily considering lettuce and tomatoes..."
Soon the "let them eat turnips" meme quickly became popular on social media. At the same time, Coffey was also regarded by netizens as the new generation of Marie Antoinette, the "severed queen" who let the French people who could not eat bread "go to eat cake".
It was also found that as Minister in charge of food and rural affairs, Coffey did not care about agricultural products, and frequently shirked responsibility, even putting food shortages on the heads of the people, believing that if he redoubled his work, food would naturally arrive. But that doesn't seem to be the case, with food inflation in the UK running out of 16.8% in the year from January to January, and the Yorkshire constituency where Coffey is located, where food banks are running out of reserves, are now barely sustaining.
"People are starving and often limit themselves to one small meal a day or not eat at all. It is time for her government to support families in need instead of making them work harder in exchange for food," said Labour MP Rachel Muskell.
Even vegetables such as tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers, which can afford the increased cost of food, are now hard to come by, and these things are now scarce in the UK, and four large supermarkets have imposed purchase restrictions.
It is reported that the vegetables common in these salads are difficult for the UK to ensure self-sufficiency, especially in winter, about 95% of tomatoes and 90% of lettuce are from regions such as Spain and North Africa. But because these places have been hit by snow, hail and flooding in recent weeks, crop production has been drastically reduced, and it is difficult to guarantee the supply of the UK market.
However, such things are not uncommon in the UK, which relies heavily on imports, and there was one in 2017, followed by a shortage of onions and peas in 2018.
There seems to be no shortage of people in Britain's cabinet, such as current Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who went to a homeless shelter last Christmas to help. When a homeless man asked him how he wanted to solve his economic problems, Sunak asked him, "Do you work in business?" This sentence was also fiercely attacked by the public, "What kind of place are you as a shelter, restaurant?" Can business people come here to eat? ”
Then Gillian Keegan, the UK's education secretary, when asked "what she thinks some nurses have to use food banks", she replied wearing a £10,000 (83,000 RMB) watch that they only go there to get food in an emergency, "such as something that happens to have nothing to eat or a broken stove". Keegan can say such things, and being slammed is a sign of "lack of empathy".