‘Price capping is pretty daft’ - author of National Food Strategy

Added: 2026-05-26

[00:00:00]Price capping generally is pretty daft.

[00:00:03]Basically, the um the wholesalers, people outside the the supermarkets, come into the supermarkets and buy the stuff that is artificially cheap and sell it on the wholesale market. There are only two ways that that the government can uh reduce the cost of food in now, uh kind of in the present. One is to um transfer taxes from some people to other people. So, for example, free school meals. And the other is to uh borrow now and get future generations, you know, subsidize food and get future generations to pay for it. But, the government can't just um magic magic the cost away.

[00:00:41]>> But, I suppose in simple terms, you can absolutely see why it might be being suggested. It's repeatedly one of the biggest concerns of people up and down the country. How am I going to afford my shopping?

[00:00:54]Why shouldn't supermarkets play some role in that?

[00:00:57]>> They they should. Um and it's going to get worse. So, the the the whole the the Iran war and the fertilizer cost issue, that is not going to flow through into the mainstream until next spring. Food inflation is going to go up, and it's one of the biggest political issues.

[00:01:14]It's the reason that, you know, um many governments have fallen because of food prices. Uh and and if we're going to try and if the government wants to tackle that, what it needs to do is um you know, allow the UK's food system to create better, cheaper food here.