George Eustice out of touch over shopping comments - Yorkshire Post Letters

The DEFRA Minister, George Eustice, suggests that shoppers who are hard up should buy value food which are often not as nutritious as main brand foods,

I find his comments about how to buy food incredibly out of touch with everyday life, which seems to becoming a more common thread with this government.

Families who are struggling often need the most nutritious food rather than second class quality of food.

If for example, a can of ‘value’ baked beans contains less beans with more liquid tomato sauce. So to fill the hungry mouths of children you need to buy twice as much.

Granted the 10 large supermarkets are competitive on certain food and drink items (loss leaders), but will still make huge profits for their bosses and shareholders.

If this profit margin was lowered then could customers afford a better choice of dietary food?

Growing your own food is a great thing but not everyone has the stamina to cultivate the ground before planting vegetables and fruit.

However, councils could help by asking housing developers to set aside a quantity of virgin topsoil from new housing built on former green field sites.

This could be used to build raised planters for growing food for those who are infirm or elderly.

I am sure that the cost of timber could be found by councillors in housing budgets or from car parking revenue? Finally, I agree with your editorial about these patronising comments by the Minister.

After all, the increase in the cost of living won’t affect MPs as much as the average family as they were automatically awarded a £2,200 pay rise!

How much have the subsidised meals gone up in the restaurants in the Houses of Parliament? I guess not as much as cafes on the high street!