Ed Miliband
was today accused on live TV of being out of ‘touch with reality’ after
underestimating his family's weekly food shopping bill.
The
Labour leader, who has attacked the government over the cost of living,
claimed he spent around £70 or £80 a week on groceries.
But
he appeared taken aback when told the average bill for a family of four
is more than £100, as he claimed his £140,000 salary meant he was
‘relatively comfortably off’.
Mr Miliband was put on the spot on ITV's Good Morning Britain about whether he understood times were tough
Mr Miliband admitted he was 'relatively comfortably off' but insisted he could still tackle the problems the country faces
But
he was put on the spot about how much it really costs to feed a family
of four. Asked about the average weekly household grocery bill, Mr
Miliband responded: ‘It depends on how much you are spending.’
Pressed
on his own family's bill, Mr Miliband said: ‘We probably spend £70, £80
a week on groceries at least, probably more than that.
‘The
point is that different families will have different costs that they
face but what I am clear about is that there is a crisis facing so many
people.’
But TV presenter Susannah Reid took him to task for appearing out of touch.
She
told him: ‘The average weekly bill for a family of four is more than
£100. So you are going to be spending significantly more than £70 or
£80.
‘People
will say one of the problems with politicians is they are actually
talking about something but not in touch with reality.’
ITV presenter Susannah Reid suggested Mr Miliband's answer showed he was 'not in touch with reality'
Mr Miliband earns £139,000 as leader of the opposition, and his wife Justine is reported to earn £200,000-a-year as a lawyer.
The couple live in a £2million family home in north London with their sons Daniel and Samuel.
But
Mr Miliband insisted he understood how people were struggling: ‘Sure,
lots of people are facing real struggles and I’m relatively comfortably
off but what l know is that there are deep issues that need to be
tackled and we’re determined to tackle them.’
He went on to admit that he does not face a cost of living crisis himself.
‘I
don’t but I can deal with it and I can tackle it and I am determined we
do and I recognise it as I go around the country and I see the
difficulties people are facing and that is what I hear and that’s what I
am determined to tackle.’
Mr
Miliband later admitted that his shopping estimate may have been on the
low side, saying he had been thinking of the bill for 'basic
groceries'.
Speaking
on BBC Radio Oxford, the Labour leader said: 'Well, I said this morning
it was on the basic groceries, the basic fruit and vegetables, about
£70 or £80 - the total shopping bill was slightly higher than that,
obviously.
'On the basics, I was saying it was about £70 or £80 but the overall shopping bill would obviously be higher.'
A
Tory source said: 'It’s the same old economic incompetence from the
Labour party that gave Britain the biggest peacetime deficit in history.
'They have no long-term plan to fix the economy and Ed Miliband can’t even get the numbers right for his political gimmicks.'
The blunder is a fresh setback for Labour’s cost of living campaign, particularly on the sofa of an ITV show aimed at mothers.
Labour was ridiculed for this advert attacking a VAT rise which included fruit and vegetables which are not covered by VAT
Mr Miliband has repeatedly attacked the government for its policies, which he claims have left people worse off.
But the party faced ridicule for an attack ad which claimed a VAT rise to 20 per cent had added £450 to the average bill.
It
featured pictures of fruit and vegetables which are not covered by VAT,
raising doubts about who signed it off for public release.
Shadow chancellor Ed Balls, who is in charge of the party’s economic policy, distanced himself from the advert.
‘Look, these campaigns are busy times and there’s always lots of things going on…’ Mr Balls said.
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