Supermarkets: Voluntary Price Caps

Baroness Walmsley Excerpts

Wednesday 20th May 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Harper (Con)]

My Lords—

[Baroness Walmsley (LD)]

My Lords—

[Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms and Chief Whip (Lord Kennedy of Southwark) (Lab Co-op)]

It is the turn of the Conservative Benches next, and then of the Liberal Democrat Benches.

[Lord Livermore (Lab)]

That may be subject to UK internal market and single market regulations. I am happy to check and confirm that to the noble Lord. As I have said, this is not about price caps, as some speculation has suggested, and we would never advocate for that.

[Baroness Walmsley (LD)]

My Lords, does the Minister agree that any deal that the Government might do with the supermarkets to cut prices in exchange for delaying regulations on healthy food would be short-sighted, against public health and damaging to the NHS?

[Lord Livermore (Lab)]

I absolutely understand the importance of the regulations that the noble Baroness is talking about. As her noble friend said, this is about what we as a Government can do, such as easing existing regulations on supermarkets, which would then enable them to keep costs down for consumers.

VAT Relief: Business Donations

Baroness Walmsley Excerpts

Tuesday 19th May 2026 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Baroness Walmsley]

To ask His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the VAT relief on business donations on goods to charities on food redistribution networks, including social supermarkets.

[The Financial Secretary to the Treasury (Lord Livermore) (Lab)]

My Lords, the new VAT relief on business donations of goods to charity came into effect on 1 April this year and it is too soon yet to assess the impacts. We anticipate the relief will incentivise increased food donations to charities eligible for the relief, meaning increased donations reaching those in need. The CBI estimates that the relief will lead to an additional £72.5 million in total donations annually. We are monitoring any possible impacts on social supermarkets.

[Baroness Walmsley (LD)]

My Lords, while the intention of the policy is welcome, does the Minister recognise that it may create a perverse incentive for businesses to divert surplus food away from community organisations and enterprises such as Community Shop, which provide both affordable food and wider support for vulnerable groups? Will he accept any evidence that may come forward as a result of this policy that this perverse incentive is happening and then consider possibly tweaking the policy?

[Lord Livermore (Lab)]

I am grateful to the noble Baroness for her question. The short answer is yes, of course. We are hopeful that this new relief will help boost the supply of essential items to charities, enabling them to reach the people and communities who need them most. The relief will also make it easier for businesses to give surplus stock a second life, supporting families and communities across the UK and strengthening the circular economy by reducing waste and landfill. I hope very much that what the noble Baroness says is not the case. I understand the disappointment of some at not being eligible for this relief. It was important to maintain the structure of existing charity tax reliefs. However, as she asks, we will continue to monitor any potential impacts and accept the evidence. She might like to know that HMT officials will shortly be meeting with the sector to discuss this further.

--- Later in debate ---

[Baroness Walmsley (LD)]

My Lords, in relation to the question from my noble friend Lady Kramer, does the Minister agree that applying the new nutrient profiling model to surplus food diverted to various organisations could make it easy to carve out less healthy food from the VAT relief?

[Lord Livermore (Lab)]

I totally understand what the noble Baroness is saying. I do not think I said that it was not possible to do that; I said that we had not yet been presented with sufficient evidence to justify doing that. As I say, we will keep monitoring the situation carefully and we will maintain an open dialogue with the sector.

Spending Review 2025

Baroness Walmsley Excerpts

Thursday 12th June 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Livermore (Lab)]

I agree very much with what my noble friend said to begin with about uncertainty. I think he was talking about the increasing global headwinds we face as a country when it comes to the economy and about the importance of stability; I completely agree with him. The IMF, for example, in its most recent report when it upgraded its forecasts for the UK economy, said that our fiscal strategy is striking a

“good balance between supporting growth and safeguarding fiscal sustainability”,

and that our

“Growth Mission focuses on the right areas to lift productivity”.

On spending, it concluded that our plans are “credible and growth-friendly”, and

“are expected to provide an economic boost over the medium term”.

I am afraid that I do not agree with the points my noble friend made on council tax towards the end of his question.

[Baroness Walmsley (LD)]

My Lords, the Minister mentioned pride in place recently. It is understandable that people have pride in the place where they live. One of the indications of that is the number of volunteers who come forward to work in the Britain in Bloom scheme, but some volunteers have told me that there has been an enormous amount of vandalism, tearing apart the beautiful plantings that unpaid volunteers have made to beautify their local area and which have been much appreciated by local people. They say that part of the problem is there are not enough police on the beat and that, even when they have CCTV evidence and can identify the perpetrators, the police do not have time to do anything about it. I have heard from the police that the settlement for the police will not be adequate for the increased number of police that has been promised. Can the Minister give any cause for optimism to all those volunteers who work so hard?

[Lord Livermore (Lab)]

I am grateful to the noble Baroness for what she says, and I agree with her about the importance of pride in place and the difficulties around vandalism, graffiti, fly-tipping and so on. That is exactly why the pride in place fund was established: to tackle some of those really difficult local issues. When it comes to police funding, the Government increased investment in policing yesterday, and the spending power of our police will increase by 2.3% in every year of this Parliament, which is around £2 billion extra for the police. I hope the noble Baroness can take that back to the people she talks about and give them the optimism and reassurance she asked for.

United Kingdom Declining Birth Rate

Baroness Walmsley Excerpts

Wednesday 6th November 2024 Lords Chamber

[Lord Livermore (Lab)]

I sympathise with my noble friend’s point, but I find it hard to sympathise with that man on anything.

[Baroness Walmsley (LD)]

My Lords—

[Baroness Manzoor (Con)]

My Lords—

[Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Lab Co-op)]

My Lords, it is the turn of the Lib Dem Benches.

[Baroness Walmsley (LD)]

My Lords, in providing additional childcare places, will the Government ensure that the additional staff are well trained and highly skilled? Perhaps we should be replacing the word “childcare” with the phrase “early education”, to make sure that children develop well and to give parents going back to work the confidence that their children will be properly looked after.

[Lord Livermore (Lab)]

The noble Baroness makes an absolutely central point. All the evidence shows that the first months and years of a child’s life are fundamental to the opportunities that they have throughout their life, so I agree wholeheartedly with everything that she said. Skills England, the new body that we have established, is there to make sure that exactly what the noble Baroness said about the skills available to that sector happens.