One UK minister has been slammed as being “out of touch” with the general public after issuing “patronising” advice that people should buy cheaper food to fight inflation.
George Eustice, the UK Conservative Government’s Environment tsar, has been slammed as being “out of touch” with normal people after saying the people struggling with inflation should buy cheaper brands of food.
The advice, which has been derided as “patronising”, was issued by the senior Tory politician as his government fails to get a grip on the ongoing inflation crisis, which has seen the price of food, fuel, and services creep up considerably over the past number of months.
According to a report by UK broadcaster Sky News, Eustice suggested that people looking to save money during the sudden inflation hike should look towards buying so-called “value brands” at a lower cost.
“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,” the government secretary said.
However, while the Tory party official might have seen this as genuine advice, others have taken issue with it, deriding it as “out of touch” and “patronising”.
“Families and pensioners who can’t afford their weekly shop need more help, not patronising advice from a clueless minister,” said Wendy Chamberlain of the leftist Liberal-Democrat party, while also saying that “the Conservatives are living in a parallel universe” when it came to the issue of increasing household costs.
Food Crisis: Millions of Tons of Grain Stuck in Ukraine as Russia’s War Blocks Exportshttps://t.co/p6InWoKuTx
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) May 3, 2022
Criticism of Eustice’s comments comes as the price of food continues to rise across the UK, with research by the British Retail Consortium finding that prices rose by an average of 3.5 per cent in April on the year.
The rise corresponds with an overall shop price hike of 2.7 per cent in April on the year, a rise the researchers attributed to the ongoing war in Ukraine, as well as the draconian COVID-19 lockdowns instigated by the CCP in China.
“The impact of rising energy prices and the conflict in Ukraine continued to feed through into April’s retail prices,” said Helen Dickinson, who serves as Chief Executive of the BRC.
“This has been exacerbated by disruption at the world’s largest seaport, following Shanghai’s recent lockdown,” she continued. “Food prices continued to rise, though fresh food inflation slowed as fierce competition between supermarkets resisted price hikes on many everyday essentials.”
“Global food prices have reached record highs, seeing a 13% rise on last month alone, and even higher for cooking oils and cereals,” she went on to claim. “As these costs filter through the supply chain, they will place further upward pressure on UK food prices in the coming months.”
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