Chris Leslie MP Labour’s Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury, responding to Treasury claims on earnings and incomes, said:

“Once again the Tories are desperately trying to tell people facing a cost-of-living crisis that they’ve never had it so good.

"In fact the latest figures show that under David Cameron real wages have fallen by over £1,600 a year. And IFS figures show families are on average £891 worse this year off due to tax and benefit changes since 2010.

"This analysis is totally out of touch with the real world. It ignores the one third of full-time workers who have not stayed in continuous employment and the 27 per cent who work part-time.

"David Cameron and George Osborne simply doesn’t understand the cost-of-living crisis. That’s why their priority has been giving a £3 billion tax cut to people earning over £150,000, while everyone else is worse off.”