After a clash last week over suggestions of potential war profiteering, a rescheduled meeting between grocers and chancellor Rachel Reeves was described as “constructive”.

Leading grocers and trade bodies met the chancellor yesterday to discuss the possible effects of conflict in the Middle East on prices, amid widespread fears that rising energy costs and other factors could feed through to higher food price inflation.

The meeting was originally planned for last week, but some retailers declined to attend then after comments by the chancellor led them to anticipate being hectoring about price gouging.

However, at the rearranged meeting on Wednesday, which grocers, including Tesco and Morrisons attended, the chancellor seemed willing to engage with retailers.

BRC chief executive Helen Dickinson, who was there, said: “Retailers had a constructive meeting with the chancellor. Supermarkets are doing everything they can to keep prices affordable and maintain the ongoing resilience of their supply chains.

“While the conflict in the Middle East means some inflation is inevitable, there are domestic policy levers that the government can pull to mitigate some of the inflationary pressures.

“Industry is committed to working with government to consider these further and on ways it can continue to support British households.”

Grocery body IGD has warned that food prices could climb to as much as 8% by June if war disruption persists. Higher costs because of the conflict could also affect non-food retailers – last week, Next said it has booked £15m of costs, which could rise if the war and associated impact go on for an extended period.

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