The Tories have been mocked after holding a press conference in front of a backdrop likened to “an abandoned mattress”.

Party leader Kemi Badenoch and shadow chancellor Mel Stride held the question-and-answer session to highlight the upcoming rise in the employers’ rate of National Insurance.

The Conservatives have described it as a “jobs tax” which will make it less likely that bosses take people on or give decent pay rises.

Badenoch said: “They are so busy spending other people’s money that they don’t think about the impact of their decisions on those who are working hard, taking risks, and trying to get on with their lives.”

Shadow chancellor Mel Stride, who also took part in the press conference, said it was a “ticking tax time bomb due to detonate in just five days time”.

But unfortunately for the Tories, people’s main takeaway from the event seemed to be the white sheet behind the pair.

Posting on X, Jason Groves, the political editor of the Daily Mail, said: “Backdrop for the Tories’ big cost of living press conference looks uncannily like an abandoned mattress.”

His observation was quickly pounced on by both Labour and the Lib Dems.

Other social media users also joined in the online mockery.