Martin Lewis has labelled a Cabinet minister's suggestion for consumers to swap value brands as the cost-of-living crisis continues as 'bulls***' and 'patronising'.
Environment Secretary Mr Eustice has faced criticism after saying shoppers could "contain and manage their household budget" by changing the brands they buy in supermarkets and elsewhere. MoneySavingExpert founder Martin Lewis said that while there was nothing wrong with the advice, it is "bulls*** 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 bulls***.
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"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."
The row comes as the latest figures show shop prices are up 2.7% on last year, marking their highest rate of inflation for more than a decade. Food inflation accelerated to 3.5% in April, up from 3.3% in March, although fresh food inflation slowed slightly from 3.5% to 3.4% amid fierce competition between supermarkets which resisted price hikes on everyday essentials, according to the BRC-NielsenIQ Shop Price Index.
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.
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