Government 'woefully out of touch' says MP as minister tells public to shop around for food
People struggling with the cost of groceries were today urged to shop around.
Consumers can help themselves cope with rising food prices by choosing value brands in the supermarket, a minister suggested.
Environment Secretary George Eustice said Britain’s competitive supermarkets would help shoppers find better value.
But Labour’s shadow Treasury chief secretary, Wolverhampton Pat McFadden, described the government as “woefully out of touch”.
Big supermarkets Tesco and Sainsbury’s have both pledged to keep prices as low as possible as they try to compete against discount stores including Aldi and Lidl.
West Midlands-based Poundland has also attempted to bring new shoppers in with new television adverts that concentrate on its cut-price groceries. Its chief executive Barry Williams has a new strategy for the store, venturing online and with a desire to move more towards large-format stores offering groceries and fresh food including vegetables and bread.
Mr Eustice said rising fertiliser and feed costs had hit the farming industry, partly as a result of soaring energy prices.
But he added: “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 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.”
“It will undoubtedly put a pressure on household budgets and, of course, it comes on top of those high gas prices as well.”
Mr McFadden, described the comments as “woefully out of touch from a Government with no solution to the cost-of-living crisis facing working people”.
The Wolverhampton South East MP raised the cost of living issue when he visited Market Drayton ahead of December’s North Shropshire by-election and has continued to criticise the Government’s handling of the crisis.
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.”
Experts say supermarkets separate their products into different categories, from the most expensive premium level through to progressively cheaper branded products, own brand and value lines.
The MoneySavingExpert (MSE) site suggests those struggling with food costs try the “Downshift Challenge” by swapping one of everything to something just one brand level lower.
It explained: “If you can’t tell the difference between the lower brand level goods, then why pay more for it?”
MSE said downshifting typically cuts grocery bills by 30 per cent.
Latest figures show shop prices are up 2.7 per cent on last year, marking their highest rate of inflation since September 2011.
Food inflation accelerated to 3.5 per cent in April, up from 3.3 per cent in March, although fresh food inflation slowed slightly from 3.5 per cent last month to 3.4 per cent amid fierce competition between supermarkets which resisted price hikes on everyday essentials, according to the BRC-NielsenIQ Shop Price Index.
