The Liberal Democrat leader, Ed Davey, has accused supermarkets of profiteering from record high food inflation. He said “Millions of people have seen their weekly grocery shop go up hugely – we calculate that the price for a year has gone up over six hundred pounds, and we’ve seen the profits of Tesco’s and Sainsbury’s go up hugely.”
Speaking earlier today, Mr Davey said “Food prices are higher in the UK, have gone up by more than almost any other country, so there’s a case there to be answered, and what the Liberal Democrats are saying is that the Competition and Markets Authority should be asked to investigate.
“You don’t have to have collusion for there to be anti-competitive behaviour and we’re worried that the evidence that we’ve seen suggests that rices are being kept artificially high.
“You’re not seeing the benefits go to farmers or any of the smaller retailers and therefore whether it’s the very large multinational food conglomerates or whether it’s the big supermarkets we think the competition authorities should investigate.”