Cost of living 'crisis' depends on who you believe

Apparently Ed Miliband's cost of living crisis is over, if it ever existed at all.

That's the argument advanced by the Chancellor and Tory MPs as they claim 'compelling evidence' that the economic strategy is working.

Wages are growing faster than inflation, unemployment is down and house sales (not to mention prices) are up.

So why the growth in food bank use then?

People who want to claim politicians are all just the same might want to look a bit more closely.

As Parliament went into recess MPs were suggesting a very different picture of Britain's progress.

Gavin Williamson, the always friendly and cheerful MP for South Staffordshire, says 83,000 more people are in work since the Tories didn't quite come to power.

"That means 83,000 more hardworking people bringing home a regular pay packet, giving them and their family more financial security for the future," he said.

"We need to stick to the plan, which is getting people off benefits and into work, and delivering a more secure future for people who want to work hard and get on in life."

Labour has a very different view of the 'secure future' we are embarking on.

Dudley MP Ian Austin says a record 93,461 people used West Midlands food banks in the last year, including 35,425 children. He suggests 'thousands of families in the West Midlands face a cost of living crisis and the benefits system is in chaos'.

Those figures are from the Trussell Trust charity. And the Government thinks they might be making the rod for their own back.

An unnamed spokesman for the Department for Work and Pensions said: "Even the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development says there are fewer people struggling with their food bills compared with a few years ago, benefit processing times are improving and the Trussell Trust's own research recognises the effect their marketing activity has on the growth of their business."

It comes down to your point of view. Fewer people struggle with food bills, but food bank use has grown.

Are food banks promoting themselves because they know more people need their services, or are more people aware of their services because the food banks are promoting themselves?

Mere weeks before European and council elections, the lines between the political parties are starting to look a little clearer.

When continent and council collide

Wolverhampton MP Pat McFadden made some remarks in a broadcast interview this week that he wants a Labour party that 'takes wealth creation every bit as seriously as its fair distribution'. The remarks were seized upon by some of the national papers as a sign that he did not think his party leadership had a workable economic plan.

In fact the Blairite MP for Wolverhampton South East's views on this are well known and were hardly a swipe at either Ed, Balls or Miliband. What were not picked up were his concerns over the prospect of Britain leaving the European Union. He calls the possibility the 'biggest economic threat facing the country'.

He's right to be ready to grasp the nettle of Europe with anyone who wants to discuss it. The council elections are on the same day as seats in the European Parliament go before the public vote. This time bureaucracy and the bendiness of bananas will get lumped in with building regulations and bins.