The Tories are so concerned that food price inflation will reverse the electoral gains they made in ‘Red Wall’ seats that they are thinking of introducing voluntary price caps on basic foods such as bread and milk.
Ironically, the seats they gained through their lies about Brexit are likely to be lost due to inflation caused by – Brexit.
However, they will only admit that the plans are at an early stage, and go on to defend the narrow margins that supermarkets make and express concern over whether they will be able to afford tax cuts.
The Sunday Post this week revealed that 1 in 5 families are cutting back on basics for their children, with 10% of Scottish families using food banks. We all know someone who is visiting a food bank, often someone who has a good job like a nurse.
Younger families are even worse off – 75% are having to cut back on essentials.
Grocery prices rose by 19.1% in the year to April.
In a comment Nick Hobbs, Acting Children and Young People’s Commissioner for Scotland said “We have heard of desperate parents watering down formula to try to eke it out for their babies. This risks malnutrition and serious illness“
Paediatrician Dr Ruth Bland, a leader in her field, warned of the catastrophic effect of poor nutrition in later life.
“The first 1,000 days of a child’s life, from conception to their second birthday, are the most important in terms of development, neurodevelopment, the immune system and long-term health, so it is deeply concerning that mothers and their babies are being affected by spiralling food costs and poverty. The effect of watering down formula to make it last longer will very quickly have a negative impact on a baby’s health.”
The UK Government has responsibility for the Universal Credit system, and levels of statutory support for those with babies, and needs to make sure that, at a minimum, everyone is able to afford the essentials and that Universal Credit is always enough to meet the costs of basic household items.
Chris Birt, Joseph Rowntree Foundation
The response of the Supermarkets?
“This will make not a jot of difference to prices …
many of the costs keeping inflation high are now arising from the muddle of new regulation coming from government.” said Andrew Opie, director of food and sustainability at the British Retail Consortium.
The response of the Tories?
The market will decide.
Environment minister Mark Spencer: “Retailers work to ensure strong competitive pressure remains in the marketplace, however the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) announced last week that they are looking into the grocery sector to see whether any failure in competition is contributing to prices being higher than would be normally.”
The response of ALBA?
Practical.
A 5-point plan to tackle poverty including:
- Introduce an Annual £500 payment to assist half a million low earnings households in Scotland.
- Increase the Scottish Child Payment to £40 per week for 400,000 children in quarter of a million households.
- Extend free school meals to all primary and secondary pupils in Scotland.
- Double the Educational Maintenance Allowance (EMA) from £30 to £60 for 16-19 year-olds in school and college.
- Introduce universal access to sports facilities for all children and young people under 18.
Write off school meals debt for families which have fallen behind.