Cathy Jamieson MP, Labour’s Shadow Treasury Minister, responding to Conservative statistics claiming people are better off, said:

“The Tories are totally out of touch to claim people facing a cost-of-living crisis are actually better off under them. These highly selective figures from the Tories do not even include the impact of things like cuts to tax credits and child benefit which have hit working families hard.

“The truth is that under David Cameron real wages have fallen by over £1,600 a year and analysis of IFS figures show families are on average £891 worse off as a result of tax and benefit changes since 2010. At the same time this government has given a huge tax cut to people earning over £150,000.

“David Cameron simply doesn’t understand the cost-of-living crisis. He’s so out of touch he seems to be telling people they’ve never had it so good.”