Hard-up families should switch to supermarket value brands to survive the cost-of-living crisis, Tory minister George Eustice said before getting the name of a poverty-hit pensioner wrong.
The Environment Secretary George Eustice has been branded "out of touch" after he used an interview with Sky News to urge cash-strapped households to buy cheaper products.
He also gaffed when he called a 77-year-old council house-dwelling widow named Elsie, “Elsa”.
The pensioner had told ITV earlier this week she was riding buses to keep warm as she could not afford to heat her home.
And when Good Morning Britain presenter Susannah Reid put Elsie's case to Boris Johnson, he callously replied he had "introduced the freedom bus pass".
Asked what he would say to Elsie, Mr Eustice told Sky News: "What would my advice be to Elsa (sic)?
"Well, my advice would be that, you know, not to stay on a bus all day to try and stay warm.
"My advice would be to seek some support from the local authority."
Urging families to buy supermarket brands, he went on: "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.”
He added: "Generally speaking, what people find is by going for some of the value brands rather than own-branded products - they can actually contain and manage their household budget.”
Presenter Susannah Reid told LBC's Andrew Marr on Tuesday night that she had spoken to Elsie since her interview with the PM.
She said: “I’ve spoken to Elsie since the interview this morning with the Prime Minister, and she says how disappointed she is with what he said.
“Because she says there are people who are even worse off than she is, and there was no answer for them, apart from ‘oh I was the person who was responsible for the bus pass,’ I mean, as if she’s supposed to be grateful.”
Boris Johnson swerved saying whether he agreed with Mr Eustice.
Speaking at Southampton Airport, he claimed: “What we want to do is help people in any way that we can through the aftershocks of Covid.
“What you’ve got is inflationary spikes, mainly in energy, but that’s knocking on into all sorts of other costs for people, for families.”
On the campaign trail in Wakefield, West Yorks, Labour leader Keir Starmer fumed: “Everybody is talking about the fact they can't pay their bills, and what’s the Prime Minister got to say about that?
“He was told yesterday about a pensioner who rides the buses to keep warm and his response was to say she should be happy she’s got a bus pass.
“This morning I heard a Government minister saying that people should not buy branded food in order to deal with the cost-of-living crisis.
“Talk about out of touch, out of ideas, out of excuses.”
The Liberal Democrat work and pensions spokesperson, Wendy Chamberlain, also criticised the comments, saying: “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.
“This is the stark reality of Boris Johnson’s Britain. Oil and gas giants are raking in billions, while families are told to buy value food and pensioners are riding around on buses to keep warm.”
