Cabinet minister tells struggling households buy 'value brands' to cope with rising costs

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

A Cabinet minister suggested shoppers could choose value brands to help cope with rising food prices. Environment Secretary George Eustice told Sky News that rising fertiliser and feed costs had hit the farming industry, partly as a result of soaring energy prices.

He went on to highlight the "better news" - that there is a "very, very competitive retail market with 10 big supermarkets and the four main ones competing very aggressively." He added: "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." Mr Eustice acknowledged that the increased costs do get passed on "through the system" to items like "chicken and poultry, and some fresh produce." Read more:I suffered six migraines a week for years - medics were baffled until one pioneering doctor saved my life But he continued: “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.” People have branded the minister 'out of touch' and 'patronising' for his response.

Twitter user Jeremy Spencer said: "Are these people for real? They couldn't be more out of touch if they tried. Perhaps Eustice could recommend the value brands he and his chums consume?" Lindsay Scott said: "They are really out of touch with society if they imagine most of us aren't already doing this" while Lynne Gull commented: "How patronising".