THE safety net for hard-pressed families has been “torn apart” by the Tories’ welfare policies, a former prime minister warned today as food prices rose at near-record levels.

New data by research company Kantar revealed that the cost of goods, such as fresh meat, were soaring.

Former prime minister Gordon Brown said that more people are being plunged into poverty and increasingly turning to charities for help.

Mr Brown said “bedding banks” were cropping up in communities alongside food banks, offering blankets, sheets and duvets for people struggling to pay their energy bills.

With just a few weeks to go before an increase in National Insurance, Mr Brown said that it was time to call a halt to the “economic madness“ of allowing tax rises, food price rises, escalating heating bills and real-terms benefit cuts.

Mr Brown described it as a “quadruple whammy” that will tip hard-pressed families over the edge.

He said: “Sadly the welfare state safety net has been torn apart.”

Data from Kantar showed more people were being forced to turn to discount supermarkets to make ends meet.

Around 1.3 million more customers went to Aldi and an extra million to Lidl compared with 2021.

The data also showed that 835,000 fewer shoppers bought groceries online in the past four weeks, with digital sales now accounting for 13.3 per cent of all grocery spending – a fall of 2.1 percentage points.

Kantar head of retail and consumer insights Fraser McKevitt said: “Ongoing supply chain pressures and the potential impact of the conflict in Ukraine are set to continue pushing up prices paid by consumers.”

Official forecasts from the Office for National Statistics suggest that inflation will surpass 7 per cent this spring from the current 30-year high of 5.5 per cent recorded in January.