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20 May 2014

Cost of Living Crisis: Ed Miliband fluffs how much he spends on his weekly shop

After an interview on ITV's Good Morning Britain today, the Labour leader has had to backpedal on his estimated weekly shopping bill.

By Media Mole

Trying to remain casual and relaxed, Ed Miliband told ITV’s presenters on Good Morning Britain how much his household spends weekly on its weekly shop.

“We probably spend £70, £80 a week on groceries at least, probably more than that,” he told the nation, before being slapped down by presenter Susannah Reid, who told the squirming Labour leader: 

“The average weekly bill for a family of four is more than £100. So you’re going to be spending significantly more than £70 or £80. People would say one of the problems with politicians is they are actually talking about something but out of touch with the reality – and the reality is that it’s much higher than you have quoted.”

Later in the day, he backpedalled in an interview on BBC Radio Oxford, saying: “Well, I said this morning it was on the basic groceries, the basic fruit and vegetables, about £70 or £80 – the total shopping bill was slightly higher than that, obviously. On the basics, I was saying it was about £70 or £80 but the overall shopping bill would obviously be higher.”

Here he is on Good Morning Britain:

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To be fair to Ed, when mayor of London Boris Johnson was asked by Jeremy Paxman how much a pint of milk costs, he dismissed it with, “So what? I don’t know how much a pint of milk costs, so what?” This mole can’t imagine Ed being so curmudgeonly about his groceries.

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