Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has been mocked for “condescending” attempt to explain rising inflation with a stack of empty coffee cups.
A Treasury video showed Mr Hunt ordering a flat white before explaining soaring living costs was criticised over its maths, punctuation and the failure to mention Brexit or the impact of Liz Truss’ economic policies.
The chancellor held up a cup marked £2.56 and said a year ago a coffee cost “around £2.50” before holding up another with £2.86 on it – which he described as “nearly £3 a cup”.
Mr Hunt blamed inflation of “about 10 per cent” on the supply chain squeeze after Covid, the Ukraine war and high energy prices. High inflation meant “the pound in your pocket is worth less than it used to be”, he said.
Liberal Democrats’ Treasury spokesperson Sarah Olney MP compared Mr Hunt to Mr Bean and said he had “airbrushed” out the impact of the disastrous Truss mini-Budget.
“The last thing families need right now is a Mr Bean-esque video from the same clueless party that crashed the economy and sent mortgage bills spiralling,” she said.
London School of Economics media professor Charlie Beckett said the Treasury-produced video was an example of the “Conservatives using public money to produce propaganda”.
Tory former education secretary Kit Malthouse also questioned the content of the message with the comment: “Money supply?”
One Twitter uses criticised the “condescending, mid-20th-century didactic tone”, while University of Nottingham professor Steven Fielding said: “I hope he recycled all those cups he wasted.”
Politics professor Tim Bale, from Queen Mary University of London, said the video was “a classic of the genre”.
In a tweet, he added that he “especially loved last year’s cup of coffee, costing £2.56, being described ‘as around £2.50’ as opposed to this year’s, costing £2.86, being described as ‘nearly £3.00’. (PS while I’m on, ‘Peoples Priorities’ is missing an apostrophe)”.
Mr Hunt vowed to tackled the “nightmare” of high inflation on Wednesday, as the latest official figures showed that it eased on slightly in December – falling from 10.7 per cent to 10.5 per cent.
“High inflation is a nightmare for family budgets, destroys business investment and leads to strike action, so however tough, we need to stick to our plan to bring it down,” the chancellor said.
Mr Hunt said the fall was “welcome”, but said it was important to maintain fiscal restraint. “We have a plan to go further and halve inflation this year, reduce debt and grow the economy – but it is vital that we take the difficult decisions needed and see the plan through.”
TUC general secretary Paul Nowak said stubbornly high inflation – remaining close to a 40-year high – showed why ministers must back down and start negotiating on the pay disputes causing a wave of public sector strikes.
“Inflation remains higher than the pay rises most workers are getting – and far higher than the pay offers Rishi Sunak is trying to force onto millions of workers without fair negotiations,” said the union chief.
Mr Hunt is said to be preparing to announce a slimmed-down budget in March without any tax cuts as he tries to balance the books after the financial turmoil of Ms Truss’ brief premiership.
Some frustrated Tory MPs who backed the Truss government’s plan for the radical tax cuts which sparked market panic are preparing to push again for the “growth” agenda.
Some senior figures in the Truss cabinet are thought to have gathered in former Treasury minister Simon Clarke’s office last night to launch the Conservative Growth Group.
