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A food aisle in a Marks and Spencer supermarket store on 16 April 2024 in London, United Kingdom. Credit: 1000 Words\/Shutterstock.com<\/p>\n
The UK government\u2019s reported push for the country\u2019s retailers to cap the prices of staples has been met with fierce criticism.<\/p>\n
Reports in The Daily Telegraph<\/a> and The Financial Times<\/a> said yesterday (19 May) the UK Treasury had asked grocers to voluntarily introduce limits on the price of products including bread, eggs and milk.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\tCombine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n In return, the publications said, an offer had been put forward to ease regulations in the areas of packaging and healthier food.<\/p>\n As a UK government minister told UK broadcasters today the move \u201cis not something we\u2019re looking at\u201d, industry figures hit out at the idea.<\/p>\n \u201cGovernment needs to focus on the root causes of rising food inflation, not the symptom. We don\u2019t believe the answer is a price cap and it\u2019s not clear to us how those proposals would work in practice,\u201d a spokesperson for UK trade body The Food and Drink Federation said.<\/p>\n According to data issued today by the Office for National Statistics, prices of food and non-alcoholic drinks in the UK rose by 3% in April, easing from the 3.7% recorded in March.<\/p>\n Stuart Machin, the chief executive of UK food retailer Marks and Spencer, said the reported idea of food price caps was \u201ccompletely preposterous\u201d.<\/p>\n Speaking to reporters after M&S published annual financial results that included a 7% rise in food sales, Machin said<\/a>: \u201cI don\u2019t think government should be trying to run business. They should try to understand business better. There is so much in the government\u2019s control. My advice is to try to reduce tax and regulatory burden and free us up in a very competitive market.\u201d<\/p>\n Speaking to the BBC today, UK Treasury minister Dan Tomlinson sought to play down yesterday\u2019s reports. \u201cThis rumoured story on caps on food prices, I can be really clear with you, is not something we\u2019re looking at,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Last month, The Scottish National Party set out its plans for food price caps. In the party\u2019s manifesto ahead of the elections to the devolved Scottish Parliament earlier this month, the SNP said it would introduce \u201clegal price ceilings on a basket of essential food items\u201d.<\/p>\n![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.just-food.com\/wp-content\/themes\/goodlife-wp-B2B\/assets\/img\/globaldata_marketing_solutions_logo.svg\"){kind=logo}
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