Shock polling commissioned by the Liberal Democrats shows that
over one in three (36%) people have noticed Christmas food shrink
in size this year. This comes as many households across the
country are already struggling with a cost of living permacrisis.
Older adults are more likely to have noticed the decrease in size
of most Christmas products as opposed to their younger
counterparts.
Among the 36% of people who think the size and/or quantity of
Christmas food products have got smaller, four in five (82%) say
they notice this in the size of chocolate bars or tubs of
chocolates. Six in ten (61%) say they think Christmas crisps or
snacks have got smaller, with over half saying the same about
biscuits (55%) and Christmas party food (51%).
The Liberal Democrats are calling for the end to big supermarket
scrooges by asking the Government to change the law, so that
large supermarkets are forced to tell their customers if the
products they are buying have decreased in size despite prices
going up.
This comes as earlier in the year, shoppers also expressed fury
and frustration towards Cadbury for the shrinkflation of Easter
eggs. The Guardian also recently reported that a Terry's
Chocolate Orange weighs 12g less than it did this time last year,
while costing 81% more than in 2022.
The South East noticed the highest amount of shrinking, with 47%
of people seeing Christmas products depleting in size since last
year. This is followed by Wales (43%) and the East (40%).
Liberal Democrat Treasury Spokesperson, MP said:
"The days of Dickensian Britain may be past - but big
supermarkets are still acting like Scrooge.
"To learn that one in three people have seen their Christmas food
get smaller, while prices continue to climb, is an insult to
every person struggling to make ends meet. The festive cheer is
being literally shrunk out of our shopping baskets, and our
wallets.
"The Government must stop sitting on its hands while this
'shrinkflation' scourge quietly squeezes households. We need to
expose this practice by legally requiring big supermarkets to
inform shoppers when product sizes are reduced despite prices
rising.”
ENDS
Notes to Editors:
Guardian reporting on the price of Chocolate Orange can be
found here.
Please see polling material here:
Methodology: Savanta interviewed
2,138 UK adults online between 12th and
15th December 2025. Data were weighted to be representative of
the UK by age, sex, region, and social grade.
