The Liberal Democrats are calling for regulation on the food industry to protect against price rises in the wake of “Trump’s idiotic war in Iran”.
Amid growing fears of a major spike in food inflation as the US threatens to begin a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz today, Lib Dem leader Ed Davey said the government needed to “take urgent action” to protect consumers against a wave of food price rises heading their way in autumn.
Davey claimed that despite saying its number one prority was to tackle the cost of living, the government had failed to take action to back it up.
The Lib Dems accused the government of dithering over its food strategy, which was published last summer but, as revealed by The Grocer, dropped plans for a Food Bill to be published this year after intervention from No 10.
“Food price inflation is going to hit us big time later this year and we’ve got to start taking action to help,” Davey told Victoria Derbyshire, standing in for the host on yesterday’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg show on BBC One.
“People in Westminster aren’t talking about the food price inflation that is going to hit families,” he added.
“I hope Westminster will start talking about this. Unless we have a proper food security strategy I don’t think we will see our farmers producing the food we need.”
The Lib Dems have pledged they would give farmers an extra £1bn a year if elected, and backed other measures including an emergency fuel duty cut to slash the cost of red diesel.
Pressed on how such measures would bring down prices, Davey said: “I don’t know how quickly it would bring down food prices but unless you support farmers properly you can’t expect them to increase production.”
Davey’s demand follows calls in February from more than 100 food businesses, NGOs and other groups for the government to bring forward a Good Food Bill, amid accusations that its food strategy had turned into a damp squib.
Businesses including the Co op, M&S, Danone, Bidfood, The Compleat Food Group and Sodexo all also backed the call, along with health and sustainability bodies such as the Food Foundation, the British Heart Foundation and the BMA.
The Lib Dems claimed there was widespread support among the public for such a bill which, among other measures, would introduce duties and targets on government bodies to make healthy food more accessible and affordable.
The party’s call for further regulations come after supermarket bosses urged the government to light a “bonfire” of legislation to help the sector tackle the threat of soaring food prices.
CEOs including Tesco’ Ken Murphy, Sainsbury’s Simon Roberts and Morrisons’ Rami Baitiéh met Chancellor Rachel Reeves and senior officials in Downing Street earlier this month, calling for further regulation to be taken off the table to allow them to concentrate on keeping everyday prices down.
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