A cabinet minister has suggested families struggling to make ends meet should buy “value” food rather than branded products.
Environment Secretary George Eustice admitted some households will be squeezed due to the rising cost of living and said they should consider switching to cheaper product alternatives to help “manage” their budgets.
It comes at a time when families are also facing increasing financial pressure due to tax rises and spiralling energy costs.
“If you look at household spending on food in the UK, it’s actually the lowest in Europe, partly because we’ve got that very competitive market,” Mr Eustice told Kay Burley on Sky News.
“There used to be for the poorest 20 per cent of households, about 16 per cent of their income used to go on food. That dropped a few years ago to about 14 per cent.
“It’s going to rise again now, but generally speaking, what people find is that by going for some sort of value brands rather than own-branded products, that they can actually contain and manage their household budget.”
Overall grocery price inflation hit 5.9 per cent this month in the fastest rise since December 2011, data from market researcher Kantar showed. Rising energy costs and the increasing prices of fertilisers and cooking oils, due to the war in Ukraine, is driving up food prices.
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.”
The Government is facing increasing calls for a windfall tax on oil and gas companies in the North Sea to help households and energy-intensive industries cope with higher fuel bills.
It comes after BP reported an underlying profit of £4.9 billion in the first three months of the year, compared with just over £2 billion in the same period last year.
Mr Eustice insisted a windfall tax on energy giants would deter investment, despite BP’s boss Bernard Looney saying a levy would not affect decisions.
