Labour is focusing on rising food prices in its local election campaign, which is launching today.
The campaign will centre around the spiralling cost of living, as Labour publishes its new research suggesting families are set to be poorer to the tune of £2,620 under the Conservatives’ watch – even after the Chancellor’s spring statement.
The figure combines estimates of price rises across food shopping, energy prices and the tax burden.
Party leader Sir Keir Starmer has called on voters across the UK to “send the Tories a message they cannot ignore” on the issue.
Read more: What the Spring Statement means for
grocery and the hard-pressed consumer
Starmer said: “Britain deserves better than the pathetic response we got to the Conservative cost of living crisis in the mini-Budget.
“You know the reality – prices are going through the roof, and wages are going through the floor.”
He claimed the Conservatives have overseen “the biggest drop in living standards since the 50s” and the highest taxes in 70 years.
“Working families feel more insecure than ever. While prices are rising in the supermarkets, at the petrol pumps and in our electricity bills, the government has chosen to put up national insurance at exactly the wrong time,” he will say.
“Even allowing for everything the Chancellor announced, families are £2,620 worse off. Britain deserves better than this.”
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