Talks over supermarket-led price curbs reveal extent of UK inflation worries

theguardian.com:

A cost of living crisis. Pressure on the government to step in to help hard-pressed consumers. Calls for supermarkets to cut prices on staple food items. Substitute Rishi Sunak for Ted Heath, step into a time capsule and journey back to Britain in 1972.

Let’s be clear: ministers are not considering imposing the sort of statutory price controls on a loaf of bread, a pint of milk or a bar of soap that were put in place half a century ago. Not now and not ever, according to Whitehall sources. But it has emerged that Sunak and his team are certainly not averse to the big supermarkets coming up with their own voluntary agreement to reduce the cost of the weekly shop.

This, in itself, is an indication of just how concerned ministers are about the stickiness of inflation – and food price rises in particular. Official figures out last week showed the cost of living as measured by the consumer prices index fell last month by much less than expected, with the cost of food almost 20% higher than a year earlier.

The backdrop to reports this weekend about voluntary price curbs is the fact the prime minister made five new year pledges to voters in early January, one of which was to halve the annual inflation rate by the end of the year. At the time, it looked like the easiest of goals, but almost halfway through the year it now looks more of a stretch. Hence, the “brainstorming session” between government special advisers and the big retailers to come up with something – anything – that might help hasten the process.

France appears to have been the inspiration for the idea of industry-led price curbs. On the other side of the Channel, Emmanuel Macron’s government struck a deal in March under which food retailers agreed to set the “lowest