Supermarkets: Voluntary Price Caps

Lord Sahota Excerpts

Wednesday 20th May 2026 Lords Chamber

[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.

[Lord Sahota (Lab)]

My Lords, first, I congratulate the Government on bringing inflation down to 2.8% and removing the 5p fuel duty. If the Government had a quiet word with the supermarkets making excessive profits of billions and billions of pounds, telling them to take it easy and not make that much profit, I am sure that the public would welcome that kind of interference, because the public would like cheaper food in every supermarket.

[Lord Livermore (Lab)]

I agree with the first half of my noble friend’s point but not necessarily the second half—I think there was an “if” in there, which is important. As I have said already, we are taking action across the board to ease the cost of living: we are freezing rail fares and prescription fees, and we have taken £150 off energy bills. These are the driving factors behind today’s bigger than expected fall in inflation, which my noble friend mentioned. Further, today, the Chancellor has extended the 5p cut on fuel duty to the end of the year.