RISHI Sunak is drawing up plans to legally force all supermarkets in the UK to cap the price of basic food items amid rising inflation, in a move to reduce food poverty and ease the squeeze amid the cost of living crisis.
The Prime Minister’s aides have started work on a deal with supermarkets akin to an agreement in France in which the country’s major retailers charge the “lowest possible amount” for essential food prices.
The Sunday Telegraph revealed that the plan would amount to the biggest attempt to manage supermarket prices since controls established since 1973.
A Treasury source said: “Food inflation is much more resilient and difficult to get rid of than we anticipated.”
Official data published last week showed core inflation in the UK economy, which strips out volatile food and energy prices, increased to 6.8 per cent in April, its highest level in 31 years.
