A SENIOR UK Government minister has been accused of being "woefully out of touch" for saying that people could buy own brand food to mitigate the cost of living crisis.

Prices of everyday items such as bread, milk and chicken has rocketed in recent months along with energy bills. 

Asked about how people were supposed to manage to feed their families with the rising prices of food, environment secretary George Eustice suggested they could buy value goods instead of brand names. 

His remarks have been condemned as patronising and unhelpful by opposition MPs. 

Speaking on Sky News Mr Eustice said: "The better news is that we have a very, very competitive retail market with 10 big supermarkets and the four main ones competing very aggressively, particularly on some of the lower-cost, everyday value items for households, so things like spaghetti and ambient products – there’s a lot of competition to keep those prices down.

“Where it gets harder is on things like chicken and poultry, and some fresh produce, where those increased feed costs do end up getting passed through the system because these people work on wafer-thin margins and they have to pass that cost through.”

Mr Eustice added: “Generally speaking, what people find is by going for some of the value brands rather than own-branded products – they can actually contain and manage their household budget.

“It will undoubtedly put a pressure on household budgets and, of course, it comes on top of those high gas prices as well.”

Labour’s shadow Treasury chief secretary, Pat McFadden, described the comments as “woefully out of touch from a Government with no solution to the cost-of-living crisis facing working people”.

Mr McFadden added: “People are seeing their wages fall, fuel and food costs rise, and families are worried about how to make ends meet.

“It’s time for the Government to get real help to people rather than comments that simply expose how little they understand about the real struggles people are facing to pay their bills.”

The Liberal Democrat work and pensions spokesperson, Wendy Chamberlain, also criticised the comments, saying: “These comments show George Eustice and the Conservatives are living in a parallel universe.

“Families and pensioners who can’t afford their weekly shop need more help, not patronising advice from a clueless minister.

“This is the stark reality of Boris Johnson’s Britain. Oil and gas giants are raking in billions, while families are told to buy value food and pensioners are riding around on buses to keep warm.”

Read more: Boris Johnson confronted over cost of living in grilling by GMB's Susanna Reid

It comes ahead of the local elections tomorrow, where the cost of living has become the dominant campaign issue and the most urgent concern for voters.

Partygate is less of a concern, according to pollsters. 

IPSOS Mori director Keiran Pedley, speaking on GB News this morning, explained: "It is no surprise to us having followed these numbers over a period of time that cost of living is top of voters’ minds.

“As they head to the polls, we find that 7 in 10 Britons think the economy is going to get worse in the next year.

“We know that people expect prices to rise. They're concerned about that and 59% of Britons think they're worse off than they were before the last general elections.”