The former Conservative MP – who stepped down in February to join the newly-formed Change UK party – used the BBC One programme last night (May 9) to say that “one of the big mistakes we made when I was in government” was implement changes “which have not done the right thing by pharmacists”.

This was “at a time when we should [have been] encouraging people to take more care of their own health, more responsibility, use the NHS more wisely and go into your pharmacy instead of going straight to your GP”, she added.

Responding to concerns about the current workforce strain on GPs, Ms Soubry said that while this may in part be due to low GP recruitment and working conditions, “some of this is about making sure our pharmacists are much better funded”.

Ms Soubry was critical of the 12% cut to pharmacy funding in England in 2016, warning ahead of the cuts that if pharmacies were to close, pressures on the NHS would increase.

Watch Ms Soubry talking about pharmacy at 53:42 on last night's episode of Question Time.