Kate Garraway called out Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson on Good Morning Britain.

Kate Garraway and Bridget Phillipson clashed on Good Morning Britain (Image: ITV)

Good Morning Britain fans were left raging as Bridget Phillipson repeatedly “smirked” during her interview on Good Morning Britain. The Education Secretary joined presenters Rob Rinder and Kate Garraway on Friday’s (December 28) instalment of the ITV programme, just days after Chancellor Rachel Reeves unveiled her controversial plans in the Autumn Budget. Phillipson stood by the Chancellor’s decision to freeze income tax thresholds, despite Labour’s pledge in its manifesto not to raise taxes for working people.

Kate asked: “Why did the party make promises on tax for working people and put it in their manifesto knowing that it’s not possible to deliver?” Reciting the same quotes said by Rachel Reeves in previous interviews, Phillipson said: “On questions like tax, I do appreciate that, as the Chancellor said, we are asking people to contribute a bit more in order to make sure we can continue to invest in our NHS, deliver more appointments, and deliver a stronger economy.

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“But we have held to the commitments we made in our manifesto around income tax, VAT, national insurance and that is important for us.”

A frustrated Kate interjected: “But what you put is that you wouldn’t be putting taxes on working people and there are impacts of taxes on working people. We know that. We’ve seen that. You must at least acknowledge that?”

When the politician attempted to defend the government by insisting it had never promised to raise income tax rates, a furious Kate felt compelled to step in.

“No, no, no,” she interjected. “You must have seen the manifesto and looked at the wording. We’ve talked about it all week.”

Phillipson hit back: “I have looked at it and I know what we said in that manifesto.”

As the Labour minister went on to explain that people like landlords would be paying more money, Kate was forced to interrupt once again.

Viewers were furious as Phillipson had a constant smirk on her face (Image: ITV)

She said: “I’m sorry but it’s here in the manifesto, ‘Labour will not increase taxes on working people.’ That might be the exact wording but you know the changes in the budget are impacting working people. The mantra was, ‘We will not raise taxes on working people.’ It has! It feels like a fiddle.”

The politician responded with the same revised sentence: “We’ve not shied away from the fact that we are asking everyone to make a contribution. Our manifesto commitments do still hold and we’ve kept to them.”

Viewers were left outraged by the interview, pointing out that Phillipson had a smirk on her face throughout.

Taking to X, one fumed: “She’s always got a smirk on her face. Never trust a person who constantly smiles. #GMB.”

Another raged: “Smug faced, Bridget Phillipson is a right nasty piece of work behind that awful fake grin. Horrible woman.”

A third fumed: “Why do you bother? All they do is lie.”