Supermarkets urged to limit price rises in exchange for eased regulations

Retailers have been asked to freeze prices on key groceries in exchange for an easing of packaging policies and a potential delay to rule changes around healthy food.

The proposals request a halt on price rises for essentials like eggs, bread and milk, and were presented to retailers by the Treasury, according to the Financial Times.

The BRC said the policy would “force retailers to sell goods at a loss” and dismissed it as “1970s-style price controls”. 

BRC chief executive Helen Dickinson, told the BBC that there was already “fierce competition between supermarkets”, which had driven down prices.

“The 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’s domestic policies,” she added.

A Treasury spokesperson said it “will set out more detail in due course” and added “we want to do more to help keep costs down for families”. 

The proposed groceries price cap comes as chancellor Rachel Reeves accelerates measures to give the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) more powers to tackle price gouging, allowing it to name and shame businesses that have changed margins in response to economic shock.

Reeves said: “When global events drive up costs, working families feel it first. I will not tolerate anyone exploiting a crisis to make a quick buck off the back of hard-working people.”