New 'voluntary' price cap rule on table for Tesco, Sainsbury's, Morrisons, Asda

UK supermarkets are being urged to consider voluntary price caps on essential foods. Top retailers like Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury's, Morrisons and more have been asked by the Labour Party government to consider freezing the prices of some essential foodstuffs. It comes in a bid to protect the public from inflation fuelled by the Middle East conflict. But the Guardian newspaper reports the etailers rejected the plan. The supermarkets criticised its potential cost amid rising taxes, fuel and energy costs. Retail bosses also argued it could push up prices for shoppers overall. One supermarket executive called the idea from the Labour Party government “completely mad”. Another said: “This is an unnecessary, unwanted and unjustified intervention in the market.” Helen Dickinson, the chief executive of the British Retail Consortium trade body, which represents all the big supermarkets, said: “The UK has the most affordable grocery prices in western Europe thanks to the fierce competition between supermarkets. “Rather 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.” One supermarket source said: “There has been lots of chat. I don’t think they have got far on the potential scope [of controls]. The idea is we would have to provide, say, butter at a price and make sure that is available at all times.” “The cost of doing something like this is huge,” the source said. “It would be a huge amount of work as we don’t sell every [version of a product] in every store.” One of the retail executives argued the government should focus on reducing “cost headwinds”, as a prize freeze would not “deliver the outcome they want”. A Treasury spokesperson said: “The 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.”