Kemi Badenoch's claim refers to an appearance by the Work and Pensions Secretary (Pat McFadden) on BBC One's "Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg" on 31 May 2026. The broadcast listing confirms McFadden was a guest on that programme, and welfare/benefits reform was a live political topic at the time. However, the specific assertion that he was asked "12 times" whether he would cut the benefits bill and "12 times he could not answer" is a precise quantitative and qualitative claim about the content of that interview. From the sources available, no full transcript or detailed reporting corroborates the exact figure of "12 times" or that McFadden failed to answer on each occasion. Earlier reporting (from the 24 May 2026 edition of the same programme) shows Kuenssberg pressing McFadden on whether he would rule out another attempt at welfare reform, with McFadden saying he "wouldn't rule anything out" — indicating he did engage with the topic rather than flatly refusing to answer. But this is a different broadcast and does not establish the specific "12 times" claim for the 31 May interview. Because the claim hinges on a precise account of a specific broadcast that could not be verified from available public evidence (no full transcript, and no reporting confirming the 12-questions framing), the needed evidence to confirm or contradict the core assertion is not publicly available. The only confirmable fact is that McFadden appeared on the programme; the "12 times / could not answer" characterisation could not be independently corroborated. Sources: BBC One – Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, 31 May 2026 (broadcast listing): https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002x6xv; BBC News live coverage of Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg (24 May 2026), "Pat McFadden faces Laura Kuenssberg over new youth work plan": https://www.bbc.com/news/live/c773v6m514zt; Hansard, Commons Debates, 3 June 2026 (Engagements): https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2026-06-03/debates/051DBB77-8D86-47FD-91B3-95DD68A17CC0/Engagements