wealthy0529

Plans for supermarket price cap on basic food

The government is discussing plans for supermarkets to introduce a cap on the price of basic food items to help tackle the rising cost of living.
A voluntary agreement with major retailers could see price reductions on basic food items like bread and milk.
Food prices rose by 19.1% in the year to April – its second highest rate in 45 years.
Downing Street sources have stressed that there are no plans for a mandatory price cap.
The idea of a cap or freeze on basic food items, as first reported by the Daily Telegraph, is said to be at the “drawing board stage”.
Supermarkets are expected to be allowed to select which items they would cap and only take part in the initiative, modelled on a similar agreement in France, on a voluntary basis.
Health Secretary Steve Barclay told BBC One’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme that “this is about having constructive discussions with supermarkets about how we work together, not about any element of compulsion”.
He added that the government was also keen to protect “suppliers who themselves face considerable pressures”.
For Labour, shadow work and pensions secretary Jonathan Ashworth told the same programme that the reports were “extraordinary”, saying “Rishi Sunak is now like a latter day Edward Heath with price controls”.

[Read More…]

Tags: No tags