Theresa May was skewered on live TV today as she tried to avoid taking the blame for the scandal of nurses using food banks.
The Tory leader claimed "there are many complex reasons why people go to food banks" when questioned in a major BBC interview.
Ministers have scrapped grants for student nurses, and a Sunday People investigation has shown how universities set up food banks for trainees struggling to survive.
A record 700 nurses and healthcare assistants applied for hardship grants last year while the number of nurses using payday loans has almost doubled in three years to 35,000.
Yet Mrs May tried to dodge questions on the scandal three times, and would not accept it was the Tories' pay cap - which limits wage rises to 1% a year for seven years - that was to blame.
Royal College of Nursing chief executive Janet Davies hit back: “Theresa May was explicitly asked to admit that it is wrong for nurses to be forced to use foodbanks in 2017.
“Not only did she fail to acknowledge it is wrong, she failed to even mention nurses or their work in her reply.
“Nurses should not have to fund the NHS deficit from their own pay packets. Too many are struggling to make ends meet, turning to foodbanks and hardship grants in desperation.”
The Tory leader was interviewed after the first full week of the general election campaign by the BBC's Andrew Marr Show.
Three times Mr Marr pointed out nurses were being forced to turn to food parcels because they did not have enough cash to eat.
But Mrs May insisted there were other reasons and pay was rising.
The first time, she said: "I want a country that works for everyone not just the privileged few," adding around half of NHS staff - without specifying nurses - were experiencing wage rises of around 3%.
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Mr Marr pressed her a second time, saying: "I'm sorry Prime Minister but we have nurses going to food banks at the moment. That must be wrong."
She brushed off his criticism, replying: "There are many complex reasons why people go to food banks.
"I want to develop an economy where yes, we have a strong economy so we can pay for the public services people need, but also we have an economy where we're creating skilled jobs and well-paid jobs."
Mr Marr said for the final time: "They haven't got enough money to eat at the moment!"
But Mrs May pressed on: "You're only going to be able to do this if you have a government that understands the importance of that strength in the economy."
Labour’s campaigns chairman Ian Lavery blasted Mrs May for not having “the common decency, courtesy or respect” to condemn “the fact that nurses, the heroes of the NHS, have had a reduction of 14% in their wages since 2010 and are using food banks to feed themselves”.
He added: “Does that not say everything that’s wrong with today’s society?”
During the BBC interview, the Tory leader stuck to her widely challenged claim she is putting "£10billion extra" into the NHS.
She refused to commit to lifting the 1% cap, instead saying: "We need to ensure we are getting decisions in the public sector right but also that we have [a] strong economy.
"You can only ensure we're putting the money we need into the public sector if you've got a strong economy to pay for it."
Mrs May also defended brutal welfare cuts, saying the benefits system should "helping to encourage and see people getting into the workplace."
She added "work is the best route out of poverty" - before it was pointed out that many benefit cuts will hit working people.
Mr Marr told her a record 1.2million food parcels were handed out, and people were "really really suffering," and asked if that would carry on.
She replied: "If I'm elected as Prime Minister... what we will be doing is working to create a strong economy in this country which ensures we are creating secure and higher paid jobs for people."
Asked if there would be "continuity austerity" if the Tories win on June 8, Mrs May said "things have changed... We won’t be in the European Union any longer," but did not give a firm answer.
Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell said nurses going to food banks "runs contrary to everything we believe in in our society."
He vowed to fund pay rises for public sector staff by reversing corporate and inheritance tax cuts and hiking the top rate of income tax.
"We’ve got to end the giveaways to the rich and have a fair taxation system. They have got to pay their way," he told the Sunday Mirror.
Mrs May accused Labour of having "nonsensical proposals that don't add up" and leave the NHS with less cash than it has now.
But Mr McDonnell said it was simply about making the right choices.
Later in her TV interviews the Tory leader ruled out hiking VAT - but gave the clearest signal yet that she'll kill off the other tax and pensions 'locks' that her party promised just two years ago.
She refused to promise the 'triple lock' which guarantees pensions rise by inflation, average earnings or 2.5%, whichever is highest, will survive.
And despite saying her "intention" was to lower tax, she refused to promise she will keep the 'tax lock' that ruled out rises to National Insurance or income tax in 2015.
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In wide-ranging interviews today, Mrs May denied her Brexit plan is in a "different galaxy" to the EU's and suggested she prays in 10 Downing Street - but added gay sex was not a sin.
She also being "robotic", refused once again to face Jeremy Corbyn in TV debates, denied calling the election to try and bury the Tory 'election fraud' scandal, and defended her decision to vote for the Iraq War.
Are you a nurse who's had to use a food bank? E-mail with your story to dan.bloom@mirror.co.uk, including your name and phone number.