'That's Really Crass': Lisa Nandy Clashes With Lewis Goodall Over Remembrance Sunday Row

Lisa Nandy clashed with LBC’s Lewis Goodall after she was accused of “politicising” Remembrance Sunday. The culture secretary has been criticised for linking the occasion with the UK’s return to the Erasmus+ scheme, which allows British students to study in Europe. Britain left the scheme after Brexit, but Labour has negotiated its return. In a press release highlighting the move, Nandy had said: “As we remember the immense courage of those who served our country, we honour them by building the best opportunities for the next generation through closeness and collaboration with our allies.”

In response, Tory chairman Kevin Hollinrake said: “Remembrance Sunday is a day for the nation to stand together in silence and honour those who gave everything for our country. It is not a day for a Labour minister to try to make an EU membership pitch. “Our veterans did not fight for a student exchange scheme. Using their sacrifice to clear a £570 million cheque to Brussels is tone deaf and frankly shameful. Lisa Nandy should withdraw this release and apologise.”

On LBC on Sunday, Goodall told Nandy that the British soldiers who lay down their lives to defeat the Nazis “didn’t die for a student exchange programme, they died to free Europe from fascism”. “To connect what your department is doing with that effort and sacrifice is insulting,” he added. But the minister hit back: “I don’t accept that at all. I think that’s really crass, if you don’t mind me turning that accusation back at you. “I think that is a really crass way to treat the sacrifice of an entire generation.”

Goodall then told her: “But you’re the one who invoked the sacrifice. Your accusers didn’t do that. You invoked the sacrifice and connected it to your government’s programme and your government’s policy.” Nandy then said: “I think it’s really wrong to say that we shouldn’t, on Remembrance Sunday and every day, make sure that we work hard to honour their legacy through peace as they had to do in war.” Listen to Commons People, the podcast that makes politics easy.

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