Michael Dugher MP, Vice-Chair of the Labour Party, responding to David Cameron’s speech to the Conservative Party’s Spring Forum, said:

“David Cameron lives on another planet. His claims that people are better off show how out of touch he really is.

“Britain isn’t coming back - but Britain’s living standards have gone backwards. Under the Tories this is the slowest recovery for 100 years.

“He talks about tax changes but fails to mention that figures from the independent Institute for Fiscal Studies show that by next year households will be on average almost £1,000 a year worse off because of changes since 2010. This comes on top of the fall in real wages that means working people are £1,600 a year worse off than they were when David Cameron entered Number 10.

“The Tories have no answers to the cost-of-living crisis because they only stand up for a privileged few. David Cameron’s priority is for tax cuts for millionaires while everyone else pays more.

“Labour will deal with the cost-of-living crisis and make the big changes to our economy so that Britain earns our way to higher living standards. We will freeze energy bills, get the next generation back into work paying taxes and not claiming benefits, get 200,000 homes built a year and expand free childcare for hard-pressed families. We also want to cut taxes for 24 million people on lower and middle incomes with a new 10p starting rate of tax.

“David Cameron not only hasn’t got the answers to dealing with the cost-of-living crisis, he doesn’t even think there’s a problem. He just doesn’t get it.”