The Cleggs ditch Ocado to ease pain of credit crunch

Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg claimed he was feeling the pain of the credit crunch today as he revealed that he had switched his weekly shop from upmarket Ocado to Sainsbury's.

The MP became the first senior politician to admit he was tightening his belt to cope with the soaring energy, food and housing bills.

Mr Clegg said that as well as dumping Ocado, which supplies Waitrose food online, he had cut back on heating his home and had replaced his car with an electric moped. He and his wife Miriam, who have two young sons, were now "mortgaged up to the gills" after their fixed-rate mortgage expired last year.

Two more energy suppliers last night raised bills by more than 20 per cent and the Government's fuel poverty czar Derek Lickorish claimed some households faced a choice this winter between "heating or eating". Mr Clegg, who takes home £61,000 as an MP, is not paid extra for leading his party. David Cameron earns £128,000, while Gordon Brown is paid £185,000.

But the Lib-Dem leader, who lives in a £1.3 million home in Putney and whose wife is a lawyer, was wary of claiming financial hardship. He told The Independent: "We are very lucky, but we need every penny of those two incomes. If we do, I can't imagine what it is like for the many millions of British families who aren't as lucky as we are."

Hesaid his wife was "gravitating away from Ocado towards Sainsbury's, just on price. I have to say, the difference is pretty big". Ocado recently pledged to match Tesco's prices for some products.

Mr Clegg added: "We always have very frugal holiday tastes because we just go and stay with my in-laws in Spain."