00:00Is the cost of your weekly food shop getting out of hand?
00:02According to OnePoll Research, the average UK household is now spending nearly £119 a week
00:08on groceries. That's more than £6,000 a year. In fact, since 2024, the average food bill has
00:13jumped up a staggering 23%. Now, the government is reportedly stepping in. According to reports,
00:18the Treasury has asked supermarkets to limit food prices in return for the lifting of some
00:22regulations. The proposals would see shops voluntarily cap the prices of essential groceries
00:27such as eggs, bread and milk, according to the Financial Times. The newspaper said the Treasury
00:32has claimed in return it would offer supermarkets incentives, which may include easing packaging
00:36policies and delaying potentially costly changes to healthy food rules. The independents spoke to
00:41shoppers to hear their thoughts on a potential food price cap. I don't think the supermarkets
00:45would agree to it. It would be too rigid and not flexible enough for them. But the idea in principle
00:51is probably quite helpful. But I think the supermarkets will probably think too much about
00:56the profit margins to agree to it. I think it's a pretty bad idea. I think that the supermarkets
01:05might make some profit sometime, but most of the time they're struggling. So I think it's
01:10wrong to penalise the supermarkets. I have noticed that when I go into a shop to buy something,
01:17I do come back and say I can't believe that tomato costs £2. So it is noticeable and it's
01:24difficult. It's tricky. It's kind of an indirect way of helping and it's sort of, I guess, someone's
01:32got to decide what's essential, which is policing what people eat a bit. If supermarkets are potentially
01:37selling these goods at a loss, they will want to make up the shortfall elsewhere and they'll
01:40probably put prices up on other goods. I don't think recently it's anything to do with price
01:46gouging or profiteering from the supermarkets. But yes, our household shop has increased massively
01:52in the last few years and it hurts. It's noticeable.
01:55I think everybody should have a right to be able to afford to eat in this country. We're
01:58not at a point, you know, we're at a point where people are struggling to even feed themselves.
02:03And, you know, that should be happening in the UK.
02:06You suddenly see something, one week it's like £1.20, then the next week you go back it's
02:11£1.40. So you are seeing, you know, I'm seeing that my pound doesn't go as far as it used
02:17to
02:17say three or four months ago. But why are prices higher in the first place? Supply chains are being
02:22hit hard by the rising national living wage and higher national insurance contributions. On top of
02:27that, the war in Iran has caused fertiliser and animal feed prices to surge. But retailers are
02:32pushing back. Supermarkets representative, BRC, warned the new policies would force retailers to sell
02:38goods at a loss. While one UK retailer labelled the government's plan crazy and desperate. Treasury
02:43Minister Dan Tomlinson rejected the reports, telling Sky News this isn't something we're looking at
02:47and saying you have to talk to the supermarkets about that. The Treasury has reiterated its
02:52priority is to help keep costs down for families, saying they're looking across the economy at the
02:57different ways they can help households. But with backlash from UK supermarkets and uncertainty from
03:01the government, it's unclear whether these price caps will make a difference to the future of the food
03:05shop or if they'll exist at all.
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