Government will NOT pressure supermarkets to cap costs of fundamental meals regardless of experiences, minister insists

On May 20, 2026

Treasury minister Dan Tomlinson said price caps on goods like eggs, bread and milk ‘isn’t something we’re looking at’ following reports the Government had urged supermarkets to bring in voluntary limits

07:55, 20 May 2026Updated 07:55, 20 May 2026

A Government minister has insisted caps on supermarket prices are not being looked at after retail chiefs said they are being urged to introduce them.

Reports claimed the Treasury had approached chains urging them to put limits on the price of key goods like eggs, bread and milk in return for easing regulations. But Treasury minister Dan Tomlinson said this not the case.

He told Sky News: “No, that isn’t something that we’re looking at.” Asked if there had been conversations, he stated: “You have to talk to the supermarkets about that.

“The Government is not looking at doing this. Instead, what we’re doing is looking across the economy at what are the different ways that we can help households.”

According to the Financial Times, the Treasury told retailers it would offer supermarkets “incentives” – which may include easing packaging policies and delay potentially costly changes to healthy food rules. This would be agreed to by retailers on a voluntary basis. It would not emulate the strict price controls brought in during the inflation crisis of the 1970s, it was claimed.

It comes after the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said food and soft drink prices rose by 3% in the 12 months to April, down from 3.7% in March.

But retailers have voiced their alarm over the reports. Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the British Retail Consortium – the UK’s biggest trade association for retailers – said: “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.”

She added: “The challenge facing retailers is a combination of higher energy and commodity costs resulting from the Middle East conflict, and the soaring cost of the Government’s domestic policies.”

“The UK has the most affordable grocery prices in Western Europe thanks to the fierce competition between supermarkets,” she also said.

Mr Tomlinson’s denial comes after the Treasury suggested a voluntary price cap was being looked at. Overnight a spokesperson for the department told the Press Association: “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.”

According to the Financial Times, the Treasury asked supermarkets for guarantees that British farmers would not lose income from price caps. It also recommended supermarkets reinvest the savings from the regulation changes to freeze grocery prices, it was claimed.

On Tuesday Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper warned the world risks “sleepwalking into a global food crisis” as a result of Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. Chancellor Rachel Reeves is to set out measures to help households with the cost of living on Thursday.

Writing in The Times, she said she had made decisions which were “responsible in the national interest”. “I will not tolerate anyone exploiting a crisis to make a quick buck off the back of hardworking people,” the Chancellor wrote.

“I am clamping down on price gouging, giving regulators new, focused investigatory powers. Where regulators identify concerning practices, they will be encouraged to name and shame.”

Article continues below

It has been announced that the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) will be able to name and shame firms who have changed their margins in response to the crisis.

.It will also get new rapid investigatory powers to identify companies taking advantage of turmoil.