THE Green Party leader has denied claims that she said being poor in India was not as bad as being on benefits in Britain.
Natalie Bennett said she was misquoted in an Economist interview which claimed she suggested that being poor in India was not as bad "because at least everyone else there is poor too".
Ms Bennett stressed the partial quote did not reflect her recollection of the conversation and said she was trying to make a point about the difference between absolute and relative poverty.
The original Economist article said: "They (the Greens) are broadly against consumption, for example: 'The world is sodden with stuff, it cannot have more stuff,' said Ms Bennett.
"Yet they do not appear to have considered what that would mean for billions of the world's poorest people, almost none of whom live in Britain.
"When Bagehot (the interviewer) suggested to her that there was a problem with this, Ms Bennett said he was worrying too much: to be poor in India wasn't so bad as to be on benefits in Britain, she suggested, 'because at least everyone else there is poor too'."
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