A cabinet minister has told shoppers to buy supermarket own brands to get through the cost of living crisis - sparking a furious, sweary response from MoneySavingExpert founder Martin Lewis.
George Eustice spoke out as calls grow for the government to take direct action to help households crippled by rising food and energy prices. The Environment Secretary spoke out as Boris Johnson admitted the economy was going through a tough patch.
Mr Eustice said that families could "contain and manage their household budget" by changing the brands they buy in shops. Latest figures show shop prices are up 2.7% on last year, marking their highest rate of inflation for more than a decade.
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Food inflation accelerated to 3.5% in April, up from 3.3% in March. The squeeze on household finances is expected to get worse, with the CPI measure of inflation expected to hit a 40-year high of 8.7% in the final three months of the year, according to Office for Budget Responsibility forecasts.
Mr Eustice said: "The better news is that we have a very, very competitive retail market with 10 big supermarkets and the four main ones competing very aggressively, particularly on some of the lower-cost, everyday value items for households, so things like spaghetti and ambient products - there's a lot of competition to keep those prices down. Where it gets harder is on things like chicken and poultry, and some fresh produce, where those increased feed costs do end up getting passed through the system because these people work on wafer-thin margins and they have to pass that cost through."
Mr Eustice said "generally speaking, what people find is by going for some of the value brands" or supermarket own-brand products "they can actually contain and manage their household budget". But he acknowledged "it will undoubtedly put a pressure on household budgets and, of course, it comes on top of those high gas prices as well".
MoneySavingExpert founder Martin Lewis said that while there was nothing wrong with the advice, it is "b******" to suggest people on the lowest incomes do not already know and do that.
Speaking to LBC's Tonight With Andrew Marr and asked about Mr Eustice's remarks, Mr Lewis said: "There is nothing wrong with the advice but what is wrong is the concept that the people who are on the lowest incomes, who are choosing between whether they freeze or starve, don't know that and don't do that. That's the b******.
"It isn't the advice. The advice is perfectly reasonable: if you're going supermarket shopping and you're buying the most expensive brands and you need to cut back then drop down a brand level or two, but the idea that that is some panacea for the working poor and the non-working poor in this country who don't have enough income, and that they don't know that, well that's why it comes across as patronising and difficult."
His remarks were greeted with anger in some quarters and branded 'patronising'. Labour’s shadow chief secretary to the Treasury Pat McFadden branded Mr Eustice’s comments “woefully out of touch”. He said: “People are seeing their wages fall, fuel and food costs rise, and families are worried about how to make ends meet. It’s time for the Government to get real help to people, rather than comments that simply expose how little they understand about the real struggles people are facing to pay their bills.”
Mr Johnson today told reporters when questioned about the comments: "What we want to do is help people in any way that we can through the aftershocks of Covid. What you have got is inflationary spikes, mainly in energy, but that's knocking on into all sorts of other costs for people, for families."
He highlighted the Government's £22 billion package of support, including £9 billion to help with energy bills, but said a shift to a "high-wage, high-skill" economy would be the best protection. He insisted the country was better-placed than it was during previous inflation crises.
"The best future for the country is: Get through the tough patch we have now, support people in any way that we can, but remember we are now seeing a lot of employment and people in high-wage, high-skilled jobs. That's a much better position to be in than we were in the 1980s or 1990s."
Liberal Democrat work and pensions spokeswoman Wendy Chamberlain said: "These comments show George Eustice and the Conservatives are living in a parallel universe. Families and pensioners who can't afford their weekly shop need more help, not patronising advice from a clueless minister."