{"id":158505,"date":"2026-05-20T09:20:26","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T09:20:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vale50plus.org\/clone\/uk-supermarkets-not-asked-to-cap-food-prices-by-government\/"},"modified":"2026-05-20T09:20:26","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T09:20:26","slug":"uk-supermarkets-not-asked-to-cap-food-prices-by-government","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vale50plus.org\/clone\/uk-supermarkets-not-asked-to-cap-food-prices-by-government\/","title":{"rendered":"UK supermarkets not asked to cap food prices by government"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div id=\"subscription-content\">\n<p>\n  It comes after the British Retail Consortium (BRC) criticised the prospect of being asked to limit the price of products such as eggs, bread and milk in return for the lifting of some regulations.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Treasury minister Dan Tomlinson said, \u201cthis isn\u2019t something we\u2019re looking at,\u201d when asked whether there had been any conversations with supermarkets about introducing price caps.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  He told <a href=\"https:\/\/news.sky.com\/story\/politics-latest-starmer-labour-trump-lammy-vance-tankers-greenland-threats-nato-12593360?postid=10832144&amp;gsid=1cabe587-8d58-44be-a156-14643825be7b&amp;ref=ed_direct\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Sky News:<\/a> \u201cThe Government is not looking at doing this.\n<\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<hr\/>\n<p>\n  \u201cInstead, what we\u2019re doing is looking across the economy at what are the different ways that we can help households.\u201d\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  The Financial Times reported that the Treasury had spoken to supermarkets about offering \u201cincentives\u201d which may include easing packaging policies and delay potentially costly changes to healthy food rules.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Helen Dickinson, the chief executive of the BRC, the leading trade association for retailers, said: \u201cRather than introduce 1970s style price controls and trying to force retailers to sell goods at a loss, the Government must focus on how it will reduce the public policy costs which are pushing up food prices in the first place.\u201d\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  She added: \u201cThe challenge facing retailers is a combination of higher energy and commodity costs resulting from the Middle East conflict, and the soaring cost of the Government\u2019s domestic policies.\u201d\n<\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p>\n    A food price cap risks one thing: fewer goods on supermarket shelves, not lower bills. When you interfere with markets, you don\u2019t beat inflation &#8211; you squeeze supply, and simply push up prices elsewhere.<\/p>\n<p>I spoke to <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/thetimes?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">@thetimes<\/a>  <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/CL1qUHC6rD\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">https:\/\/t.co\/CL1qUHC6rD<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/CaBJJwbNqM\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/CaBJJwbNqM<\/a>\n  <\/p>\n<p>\n    \u2014 Mel Stride (@MelJStride) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MelJStride\/status\/2056839822426198222?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">May 19, 2026<\/a>\n  <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<hr\/>\n<p>\n  Ms Dickinson also said: \u201cThe UK has the most affordable grocery prices in Western Europe thanks to the fierce competition between supermarkets.\u201d\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  A spokesperson for the Treasury said: \u201cThe Chancellor has been clear we want to do more to help keep costs down for families, and will set out more detail in due course.\u201d\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  The Treasury asked supermarkets for guarantees that British farmers would not lose income from price caps, according to the FT.\n<\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<p>\n  <iframe frameborder=\"0\" class=\"exco-embed\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" style=\"width: 100%\" src=\"https:\/\/www.penarthtimes.co.uk\/excoiframe\/?id=245959\" id=\"exco-iframe-245959\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<p>\n  Some measures, including the packaging regulations, generate revenue for the Treasury, it reported.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  The Government has also recommended supermarkets reinvest the savings from the regulation changes to freeze grocery prices, it added.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  This comes after UK food inflation rose to 3.7% in April.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  The Foreign Secretary on Tuesday told an aid summit of the risk of \u201csleepwalking into a global food crisis\u201d as a result of Iran\u2019s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.\n<\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<p>\n  <strong>Recommended reading:<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  <a href=\"https:\/\/news\/national\/uk-today\/26122613.uk-inflation-eases-drop-household-energy-bills\/?ref=ed_direct\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">UK inflation eases after drop in household energy bills<\/a>\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  <a href=\"https:\/\/news\/national\/26122480.government-urged-supermarkets-limit-food-prices-according-reports\/?ref=ed_direct\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Government urged supermarkets to limit food prices, according to reports<\/a>\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  <a href=\"https:\/\/news\/national\/uk-today\/26119610.asda-lower-prices-400-food-products-major-shake\/?ref=ed_direct\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Asda to lower prices on 400 food products in major shake up<\/a>\n<\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<p>\n  Chancellor Rachel Reeves is to set out measures to help households with the cost of living on Thursday.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thetimes.com\/uk\/politics\/article\/rachel-reeves-chancellor-labour-hard-choices-protect-britain-x96mkdwft?ref=ed_direct\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Writing in The Times<\/a>, she said she had made decisions which were \u201cresponsible in the national interest\u201d.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  \u201cI will not tolerate anyone exploiting a crisis to make a quick buck off the back of hardworking people,\u201d the Chancellor wrote.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  \u201cI am clamping down on price gouging, giving regulators new, focused investigatory powers.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  &#8220;Where regulators identify concerning practices, they will be encouraged to name and shame.\u201d\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  <strong><em>Do you think food prices should be capped at the moment? Let us know in the comments<\/em><\/strong>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.penarthtimes.co.uk\/news\/national\/uk-today\/26122852.uk-supermarkets-not-asked-cap-food-prices-government\/?ref=rss\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It comes after the British Retail Consortium (BRC) criticised the prospect of being asked to limit the price of products such as eggs, bread and milk in return for the&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":158506,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.penarthtimes.co.uk\/resources\/images\/20942175\/","fifu_image_alt":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[26,29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-158505","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local","category-recentpost"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.penarthtimes.co.uk\/resources\/images\/20942175\/","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":true,"date":"2026-11-20 09:20:27","action":"change-status","newStatus":"trash","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vale50plus.org\/clone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158505","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vale50plus.org\/clone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vale50plus.org\/clone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vale50plus.org\/clone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vale50plus.org\/clone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=158505"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vale50plus.org\/clone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158505\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vale50plus.org\/clone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/158506"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vale50plus.org\/clone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=158505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vale50plus.org\/clone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=158505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vale50plus.org\/clone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=158505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}