The National:

ON Monday, Home Office minister Rachel Maclean advised the British public to work longer hours and get higher paid jobs to manage the cost-of-living crisis, adding to the rich tapestry of out-of-touch Conservative advice on budgeting.

With that in mind, here’s a round-up of all the best and worst Tory budget tips.

Learn How to Cook

Just last week, Tory MP Lee Anderson said that “generation after generation” of people “cannot budget” or cook properly while discussing a foodbank in his Ashfield constituency.

After he was criticised for suggesting people were using foodbanks to get a “ready meal”, the MP doubled down on his remarks saying that he was “talking common sense” and that “actual foodbank usage is exaggerated”.

This incident was remarkably similar to a 2014 controversy when Tory baroness Anne Jenkin also suggested that poor people use food banks because they do not know how to cook.

The close friend of the late Margaret Thatcher made the comments back in 2014 at the launch of The All-Party Parliamentary Inquiry into Hunger.

"We have lost our cooking skills. Poor people don't know how to cook.

"I had a large bowl of porridge today, which cost 4p. A large bowl of sugary cereals will cost you 25p."

She eventually apologised, telling BBC Radio 4's The World at One: "I made a mistake. I was stupidly speaking unscripted. I am well aware that I made a mistake in saying it and I apologise to anybody who has been offended by it."

Eat potatoes not chips

In 2020, Jacob Rees-Mogg’s sister Annunziata took to Twitter to explain that a bag of potatoes was cheaper than oven chips, to the nation’s great relief.

She then dispelled the “inaccurate belief” that unhealthy food is always cheaper than basic ingredients.

She wrote: “The oft repeated but inaccurate belief that low quality/ unhealthy food is *always* cheaper than raw ingredients is part of the problem. It’s why learning to buy/ budget for food is important alongside learning to cook.”

Work more hours, get better jobs

The best ideas are often the simplest. If you can’t afford to live in the cost-of-living crisis, make more money - obviously.

So said Safeguarding Minister Racheal Maclean on Sky News, as she claimed those struggling with the cost of living crisis should work more hours and get better-paid jobs.

Maclean looked to reassure those up and down the UK by telling them that there was a way to “protect themselves” and that there was “more help coming” from the UK Government.

She added: "Over the long term we need to have a plan to grow the economy and make sure that people are able to protect themselves better – whether that is by taking on more hours or moving to a better paid job and these are long term actions but that's what we're focused on as a government."

Buy supermarket own brand

Earlier this month, wealthy Tory minister George Eustice was branded “out of touch” for suggesting on Sky News that buying premium branded goods during the weekly shop was tripping families up with their budgets.

Eustice, whose family own a fruit farm in Cornwall, made the comments in the week that British grocery prices were rising at their fastest rate in 11 years.

He said: “Generally speaking, what people find is by going for some of the value brands rather than own-branded products - they can actually contain and manage their household budget.

“It [inflation] will undoubtedly put a pressure on household budgets and, of course, it comes on top of those high gas prices as well.”

Survive on dry pasta

“Political enthusiast” Kevin Edger shared a link to a BBC interview with a part-time nurse explaining how hard it was to cope amid the cost-living-crisis and suggested she could feed her family with a bag of pasta that “costs 50p”.

He added: "If you shop and cook properly, you can eat healthy meals really cheaply. I would love to see how she spends her salary …"