A Tory minister who said he was ‘very significantly’ hit by the cost-of-living crisis has made a spontaneous £100 bet on live radio.
Kit Malthouse took seconds to agree the wager on Liverpool FC to win the Premier League title.
Liverpool and Manchester City both face crunch matches this weekend in an 11th-hour battle to finish at the top of the league.
But Mr Malthouse said: “I’m a Scouser so I believe in miracles. I think City are going to falter, the boys from Anfield will triumph and we’ll do the quadruple this season.”
Asked by LBC’s Nick Ferrari if he’d stake £100 in aid of a police charity, the police minister replied: “Deal”.
Mr Malthouse, who earns £115,824 a year, said last month that he had been hit by cost pressures.
Speaking in front of a burning fireplace in his home, on the day he received a £2,200 pay rise, he said: “I’ve got children. They need to be fed and that cost is rising.
“My fuel prices are rising quite significantly, and I have to say that in my constituency I'm on oil central heating still, sadly… We are feeling it very significantly."
It came as Rishi Sunak faced mounting pressure to help families with the soaring cost of living after he promised to cut business taxes and said: “Where we can act, we will.”
The Chancellor told business leaders on Wednesday “the next few months will be tough” after inflation shot to 9%.
But CBI chief Tony Danker, who hosted the City dinner, blasted: “What are we waiting for?” The business leader told the BBC : “I’m struggling to see why we wait longer.”
Environment Secretary George Eustice admitted the price of food rose 1.5% in April, “a faster rise than we have seen in some years”.
He told MPs the price of bread and cereals was up 2.2%, fish 2%, meat 1.9%, vegetables 1.3% and oils and fats 1.1%.
And he admitted the poorest fifth of families could expect to spend around 16% of their household income on food in the year ahead.
The figure was previously 16% in the years 2008-2016 before falling to 14.5%.
Mr Eustice insisted: “Ferocity of retail competition means price pressures have been maintained on certain product lines.”
And he said the nation was “self-sufficient in liquid milk”.
But Labour shadow minister Jim McMahon branded him “oblivious” to the struggles facing families.
Mr McMahon told MPs: “The price of almost everything they’re buying is going up and up and up and all the government do is to spectate and commentate from the sides.
“Work is not a route out of poverty after 12 years of this rotten government”.
