Bringing up Sunak’s wealth is ‘class warfare’, says Tory minister who claims food bank use ‘personal decision’

Bringing up Rishi Sunak’s wealth amounts to “class warfare”, a Conservative minister has claimed – as he insisted voters want someone who is “gifted”.

Veterans affairs minister Johnny Mercer said the electorate “couldn’t care less” about how much money the prime minister has, or whether he takes helicopters to travel around the UK.

Mr Mercer also said food bank use was not an “accurate portrayal” of poverty in Britain – saying “personal decisions” were often behind people going to charities rather than necessity.

The minister was asked on Sky News whether people were irritated about a billionaire telling them to “hold their nerve” during the cost of living crisis.

Mr Mercer told host Kay Burley: “I’ve got to be honest, the whole sort of class war stuff against the prime minister really goes down badly in places like mine, which is one of the most deprived constituencies in the UK.”

The MP Plymouth Moor View said: “They want someone who is actually extremely gifted, extremely talented, very capable, knows what he is on about. They actually feel like they trust him with this stuff.”

He added: “They couldn’t care less how much money he has got. They couldn’t care less about how he gets round the country … They actually feel like he is the best person to be in charge at the moment when you are dealing with a financial crisis.”

Mr Mercer is launching a dedicated helpline for homeless veterans, part of a two-year £8.5m programme towards the government’s pledge to end veteran rough sleeping.

Asked about reports that some military personnel have been forced to turn to food banks, the minister said: “Look, these are personal decisions around how people are budgeting every month.”

He added: “I don’t want to see anyone using food banks, of course I don’t, but we are in an extremely difficult time around the cost of living.”

Asked if he accepted that struggling Britons are forced to use food banks because they have no alternative, Mr Mercer said: “Well, in my experience that is not correct.”

“I think there are some dire cases that we need to do more to wrap our arms around and make sure that they are a safety net for people,” he said.

The veterans minister added: “I don’t think food bank use is an accurate portrayal of where levels of poverty, relative or absolute poverty, are in this country.”

Mr Sunak will face questions on cost of living pressures and the state of public services as he comes under scrutiny from senior MPs on the liaison committee on Tuesday afternoon.

Harriett Baldwin, from the Treasury Committee, will lead the questioning on the squeeze on living standards as the government comes under continued pressure on soaring costs.

It comes as Sainsbury’s said food inflation is “starting to fall”. But the latest official figures from the Office for National Statistics show food inflation eased slightly in May but remained at a stubbornly high 18.4 per cent.

Meanwhile, the latest figures shows that the average mortgage interest rate for a five-year fixed deal has risen to 6.01 per cent – the highest since the autumn’s disastrous mini-Budget.