Labour movement anger at government twisting of statistics to "prove" that living standards are rising is justified, but the Tory ploy indicates an exposed nerve.

Ed Miliband's decision to highlight the cost of living crisis for working people caught the coalition government on the hop.

Smug Chancellor George Osborne had been happy to place all Tory-Liberal Democrat election eggs in his overblown claim of economic recovery, believing that this would blow Labour out of the water.