The Apprentice star Thomas Skinner tore apart a Labour MP in a heated debate about the Government's approach to the UK's struggling economy. On Thursday (March 26), the current affairs programme aired live from Clacton-on-Sea, where the 61-year-old broadcaster was joined by Jake Richards, Tom Tugendhat, Layla Moran and the former Strictly star. The first question the panel was asked was: Why should we believe that things will get better?

It didn't take long before the entrepreneur grilled Mr Richards as he attempted to explain that the ongoing conflict in Iran poses challenges ahead for Brits. After listening to the MP's explanation behind the struggling economy, he began: "We all know the cost of living is a joke at the minute, people are struggling. People, at the end of the week, should be able to enjoy a pint of beer, take their kids to the football, but they can't because their pennies aren't going as far."

He fumed: "Labour have been smacking small businesses left, right, and centre, and it isn't fair. People forget that small businesses are the backbone of this economy; without small businesses, we haven't got a country.

"Their tax pays for the potholes that we were talking about earlier, and the NHS. Everything goes through small businesses, and I think we need to give them more support. Then you'll see more jobs open up, you'll see more people [shopping] because when it comes to making more money, they can employ them, they can fund people better."

Fiona then asked him: "Do you think any of the parties have an answer for that?" to which he replied: "I don't think they do at the moment. Nigel Farage came out recently and said he'd support small businesses, and I appreciate that, but I think something needs to be done now."

Turning to the Labour MP, he added: "You lot are in charge, do something about it. Stop talking about it, do it" as the crowd erupted into applause.

Later on in the show, a member of the audience asked: "Have we lost the ability to have a civilised debate?" which took the presenter aback as she asked: "Are you pointing at me?" The contributor sheepishly insisted that he was pointing to the entire panel before she reflected on his question fully.

She replied: "What we aim for is to disagree agreeably on this programme, and depending on what the subject is, often that is the case. But occasionally it gets pretty tricky, and when I see what happens on social media after the programme, there's not necessarily a lot of love there."

It comes after ex-BBC staffer Lucy Brazier slammed the "unwatchable" show last month, writing on X: "It's called Question Time. The format is supposed to be that the audience asks questions and the panel answers. Fiona is meant to moderate. Week after week, she interrupts, talks over people and aggressively pushes her own agenda. It's becoming almost unwatchable."