Who says the Tories don’t understand the cost-of-living crisis? So far obliviousness to the desperate circumstances of low-income (and not so low-income) families has been in evidence on the posho wing of the Conservative party.
There was Rishi Sunak who said it would be ‘silly’ to provide more help with energy bills right now and better to wait and see what things looked like in the autumn. Not to mention environment secretary George Eustice who, offering some belt-tightening tips to struggling Brits, suggested ‘going for some of the value brands rather than own-branded products’ as a way to ‘contain and manage their household budget’. Now Lee Anderson, an ex-miner elected Tory MP for Ashfield in 2019, has proved you don’t need to have been born with a silver spoon in your mouth to fit your foot in there too.
During a Commons debate on the Queen’s Speech on Wednesday, the former Labour councillor told MPs:
Perhaps instead of the UC uplift, the Chancellor should have bought families on benefits a copy of Ottolenghi’s latest book.
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