SRC reaction to proposed legislative cap on food prices

Tuesday, 28 April 2026 11:45

Responding to John Swinney's proposed legislative cap on food prices in stores (see below), David Lonsdale, Director of the Scottish Retail Consortium, said: “This misbegotten proposal for a legislative price cap is based on a faulty diagnosis of the symptoms behind food price inflation. The root cause behind rises in food prices over recent years is because the cost of producing food has risen. This has been driven by international supply chain shocks which have pushed up...Request free trial

Responding to John Swinney's proposed legislative cap on food prices in stores (see below), David Lonsdale, Director of the Scottish Retail Consortium, said:

“This misbegotten proposal for a legislative price cap is based on a faulty diagnosis of the symptoms behind food price inflation. The root cause behind rises in food prices over recent years is because the cost of producing food has risen. This has been driven by international supply chain shocks which have pushed up fertiliser, fuel, and energy bills as well as by relentless rises in government-imposed statutory costs on retailers and their suppliers.

“Despite this, we have the most affordable grocery prices in western Europe thanks to robust competition between food retailers. Our politicians' ought to be pulling out all the stops to reduce the statutory costs that retailers, food manufacturers, and farmers face, not adding yet further red tape in the form of mandatory price controls.”

ENDS

Note 1: We have the most affordable food prices in western Europe according to the Institute for Grocery Distribution: Are UK food prices higher than Europe?.

Note 2: Today the BRC-NIQ Shop Price Monitor confirmed that food price inflation eased down in April (Heavy discounting eases shop prices).

Note 3: In addition to SRC others have publicly voiced scepticism over the food price cap including Food & Drink Federation Scotland, Scottish Grocers' Federation, think tank IPPR Scotland, and the Scottish Government's former Cabinet Secretary for Food policy Fergus Ewing.

Note 4: Scottish retailers face around a third of a billion pounds in extra annual costs which weren't in place a couple of years ago. This includes £160 million in UK Extended Producer Responsibility fees for packaging and £190 million extra in Employer National Insurance contributions. Grocers are also facing into millions of pounds of additional new costs through the Employment Rights Act, new in-store restrictions on the promotion of certain food products, and the upcoming UK-wide deposit return scheme. On top of this larger stores in Scotland – many of them grocers – are paying £54 million extra in business rates in 2026-27 compared to their equivalent sized English counterparts.

Note 5: There is a dearth of detail on the proposed food price cap e.g.

What are the specific products to be included (SNP manifesto talks of up to 50)?
Which stores would be affected?
How would prices be set and who would take that decision?
On what basis would prices be set and would it include any reference to retailers' operating costs and real time supply chain costs?
How long would products be price controlled for?
How would this interact with existing rules on competition and avoiding collusion and price fixing?
Who would monitor and enforce/police the food price cap?
How does this sit with the manifesto pledge (p37) to ‘cut down' on bureaucracy affecting business?

Note 6: SRC's remains more than happy to meet Mr Swinney in early course to discuss how government could get behind and assist retailers' efforts to keep down shop prices.

Note 7: SNP news release issued today (28 April 2026) entitled “FM – opportunity for fair food prices is in Scotland's hands” commits to legislating within ‘100 days'.