A BBC Breakfast presenter gave a cabinet minister a brutal reality check this morning about the rising cost of living.

John Kay rhymed off a whole host of bills which are going up in price as April begins.

Business secretary Jonathan Reynolds had told him: “We know it’s hard. We know the pressure, particularly on energy bills, over the last few years has been incredibly difficult.

“That’s why everything we’re trying to do is to try to mitigate that, to give people more spending power.”

But Kay told him: “It’s not just energy bills though, is it? Broadband, mobile phone, TV licence is up today, car tax, water bills, stamp duty, council tax.

“People hear you talking about national [minimum] wage going up, but if it’s all going straight on bills, when are people actually going to feel better?”

Reynolds insisted “people are getting better off” and pointed to the freeze to fuel duty, the triple lock for pensioners and free breakfast clubs for primary school children as other examples of what the government is doing to help people make ends meet.

He added: “At the heart of it, [we are] running an economy soundly to see those three cuts to interest rates which we’ve seen since the election, something that effects everyone.

“I’m not saying these pressures aren’t real that people are under on their finances that will have them concerned, but we’re starting to see the decisions the government has made make people better off.”