LONDON – BBC journalist Amol Rajan apologised to Radio 4 listeners this morning after appearing to suggest benefits claimants are ‘scroungers’.
Rajan, who has been a presenter on the Today programme since 2021, told listeners he wanted to ‘clarify’ the comment made during an interview with former Labour Minister Lord David Blunkett.
During a discussion about yesterday’s Budget, Rajan said: ‘‘According to the child poverty action group there are over 4 million children in this country in poverty, more than 70 per cent of those are actually in families where people work.
‘‘It’s not a question of scroungers on welfare, it’s actually working families.’’
He had been asking Lord Blunkett about the decision by the Chancellor Rachel Reeves to scrap the two-child benefit cap.
Addressing Radio 4 listeners several minutes later, Rajan said: ‘‘I just want to clarify something, a few moments ago in my interview with Lord Blunkett I used the word scroungers.
‘‘To be clear I absolutely wasn’t describing people on welfare as scroungers myself, I was making the point that in families where children are in poverty, you can’t really characterise such families as scroungers, were people to do so, because as I was saying over 70 per cent of the children in poverty are in families where people do work.
‘‘Sorry if that was unclear, I’d certainly never myself describe people who take social security or benefits or welfare or whatever you want to call it as scroungers, that’s not the kind of language I would use.’’
The apology came after listeners took to social media in outrage over his initial comment.
One said: ‘‘BBC Radio 4 Today can you explain to me why your script editor or Amol Rajan himself decided to use the phrase ‘scroungers on welfare’?”
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