Telling people hit by rising energy bills to get a better paid job was 'ever so clumsy', Tory MP Jake Berry says

Conservative party chairman Jake Berry says he regrets telling people to get better-paid jobs to cover their energy bills. Mr Berry described his controversial comments as 'ever so clumsy'.

The MP for Rossendale and Darwen told Sky's Sophy Ridge on Sunday last week: "People know that when their bills arrive, they can either cut their consumption or they can get (a) higher salary or higher wages, go out there and get that new job. That's the approach the Government is taking in trying to create growth."

But speaking to GMB on Thursday, he said: "I accept (my comments) were ever so clumsy and I'm sorry if people have misinterpreted it. It was part of a larger interview.

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"The real point I was trying to make in a terrible and clumsy way is the approach of the government is to grow the economy to ensure that families when they receive things like their energy bills don't have that huge bill shock."

Mr Berry went on to say the Government needs to wait until inflation figures are available to make a decision on uprating benefits this autumn. Universal Credit rises in line with inflation, but Mr Berry has previously said he's open to changing that policy.

He told LBC: "The Government must make a decision based on facts. The situation with benefits is that some benefits as a matter of law are uprated in line with inflation, and other benefits… it is a decision of the Government.

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"They do tend to be those out-of-work benefits to which you refer. But the inflation figures that are used are the inflation figures