Susanna Reid has come under fire from Labour backers thanks to her rather firm line of questioning towards Health Secretary, Wes Streeting, on Tuesday morning.

However, despite the complaints, the Good Morning Britain presenter has also faced her fair share of applause from ITV viewers who felt the 54-year-old was “spot on” to hold the government to account.

The full-blooded debate among viewers erupted as Ms Reid took the reins of an interview with Mr Streeting while her co-host and former Labour politician Ed Balls watched on.

On the agenda were probes about Sir Keir Starmer’s dwindling popularity in the polls, the proposed rollout of digital IDs, and the idea of introducing an online health service to those in need.

Mr Streeting joined the show via video link from Liverpool, where Labour’s annual conference is being held, and began the discussion by lauding the government’s results and performance over the past 14 months.

He also had many a kind word to say about Mr Starmer in light of the damning polling results that emerged last week.

Not exactly willing to take Mr Streeting’s word as gospel, Ms Reid soon challenged: “It’s just that he’s historically the least popular Prime Minister in history.

“It’s just not cutting through. You can list a whole list of what you think are your achievements. If the voters don’t feel like you’re delivering to them, it’s not going to work, is it?”

Mr Streeting launched a passionate defence of the PM: “Well, what I’d say about our Prime Minister is that he’s a decent man with a good heart and good values.

“And he wasn’t born with a silver spoon in his mouth. He knows what it is to struggle. His parents experienced that struggle. So did he.

“He has come into public service, and he’s come into politics, because he wants to make sure that everybody in this country has a fair chance. And there are people who are sitting around the table-“

“Sorry, forgive me,” Ms Reid interjected. “He might be the nicest person in the world, but if he’s a bad Prime Minister, that’s what matters to voters.

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“And at the moment, it’s as if the government keeps telling people why they should feel better off, rather than people feeling better off.

“We’ve got a Budget coming down the line where people are just petrified about tax rises, that that might go up, that you might tweak the wording again on the manifesto and break your manifesto commitments.

“Until you make people feel better off, you’re not getting a message through about how good you are at government.”

Mr Streeting replied: “This is a Prime Minister who, when he set off for Washington to meet with President Trump, there were loads of people who were expecting, and in some cases hoping, that he’d fall flat on his face and fail -“

“How does that make anyone feel better off? How does that help anyone pay their bills?” Ms Reid butted in once again.

Mr Streeting answered: “Susanna, you ask the workers at Jaguar Land Rover how they feel about the fact that their Prime Minister went to Washington on their behalf and secured a trade deal better than any other country in the world that secured those jobs at Jaguar Land Rover.

“That’s what this Prime Minister is about. He’s not a showman, he’s a statesman. He is there to deliver real change for our country, practical change that matters in people’s pockets, people’s livelihoods, and people’s prospects for the future.

“And that is why, whether it’s the investment in our education or the action we’ve taken to secure jobs, we are fundamentally on the side of working-class people, not just so that they can beat the odds, but so that we can change the odds and shift the dial in favour of ordinary working people from backgrounds like ours, the most working-class cabinet in British history.”

As the conversation rolled on, Ms Reid continued to provide the majority of the tricky probes as she shone the spotlight on the Health Secretary, particularly when it came to Labour’s online health service.

Ms Reid’s tough scrutiny of the Health Secretary went down well with those keen to see Labour put under the microscope, with one X user responding to a clip of the debate with a series of applause emojis and the simple message: “Well done, Susanna.”

“Susanna… You’re absolutely 100% [spot on] here,” a second added before they continued: “It isn’t working. If it were a privately held business, the Chairman would show him the door. If he (Starmer) wants any chance of party survival, he should quit now. Him and Reeves. They just don’t see it though…..”

“Susanna said words that resonated with me through my career… ‘Telling isn’t selling’… instead shut up and listen… and act on what you hear,” a third applauded before a fourth echoed: “Well done, Susanna… ‘we helped a company’, wow one company, what about the rest of the country!”

However, Ms Reid’s grilling of Mr Streeting was deemed too harsh by left-leaning viewers, with some even claiming it proved her “bias”.

“Why is your programme so anti-Labour? It’s really unwatchable now, absolutely no balance,” one X user complained before a second argued: “Shame on you, Susanna Reid. You and the media have consistently talked Keir Starmer down. He may not be perfect, but I would choose him over any leader or politician.”

A third also moaned: “Susanna was a disgrace this morning. Nothing impartial about her smirking, slagging off the PM at every opportunity. If I were Wes, I’d have told her that her programme is part of the problem. It’s been a campaign of undermining since last July.”

And a fourth concurred: “@susannareid100… Absolute hatchet job this morning against the PM. Labour needs to stand up to this constant undermining of Starmer. If you tell stupid people something often enough, they will believe it, straight from the Farage playbook.”

Health Secretary Wes Streeting is challenged on how the new online health service will work.@susannareid100 asks how serious conditions will be diagnosed online and what help there will be for older people, who don’t have access to the internet. pic.twitter.com/NtIKLQFjP1

— Good Morning Britain (@GMB) September 30, 2025

The irony of the claims of bias wasn’t lost on other viewers, however, who ridiculed Mr Balls for his seeming lack of desire to quiz Mr Streeting, given his ties to the Labour Party and marriage to Foreign Secretary, Yvette Cooper.

Highlighting the point, one X user typed: “Funny that whenever a Reform or Conservative MP is being interviewed, Ed Balls gets proper stuck into them.

“But loses his tongue the minute someone from Labour is in the chair. It’s like he can feel the wrath coming when he gets home from work if he dares to question any of their policies.”

And a second ridiculed: “I have to give @YvetteCooperMP credit for her puppetmaster skills in stopping @edballs from growing a pair and asking those challenging questions, putting @wesstreeting on his back foot, and holding him to account. What an inspiration to the younger generation of news presenters.” (sic)