Supermarkets: Voluntary Price Caps

Lord Lamont of Lerwick Excerpts

Wednesday 20th May 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Lab)]

My Lords—

[Lord Lamont of Lerwick (Con)]

My Lords—

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

We will hear next from the Labour Benches and then from the Conservative Benches.

--- Later in debate ---

[Lord Livermore (Lab)]

We are engaging with a wide range of stakeholders and I am sure that we will continue to do so.

[Lord Lamont of Lerwick (Con)]

My Lords, I am extremely pleased that the Minister has confirmed that price controls, if they came in, would be voluntary. However, we have also been informed by his replies that it is going to be voluntary in exchange for a regulatory incentive. If certain regulations will be repealed in exchange for price controls, does that not show that such regulations—whether they are on the environment, food safety or anything else—should have been considered for repeal or for lightening anyway?

[Lord Livermore (Lab)]

I am sure that there is much in what the noble Lord says. On regulatory burdens, the Prime Minister has set a 25% target to bring the cumulative cost of regulation down. We have already announced £1.5 billion of gross annual administrative savings so far, and we expect to set out further savings in due course.