Tanya Dando

And amazing, really, to think, you know, even a few weeks ago, the prospect of Scotland suggesting price caps was pretty staggering.

If anyone had said then that within a few weeks, the UK government would be proposing that, I think we'd have thought they'd lost the plot.

But obviously, desperate times call for desperate measures.

Madam Deputy Speaker, the government has the right economic plan.

Today I am taking action by suspending tariffs on over 100 different foods sold in supermarkets.

And I am clear that I expect supermarkets to pass these savings on in full to their customers.

It sort of has left a bit of a bad feeling because supermarkets already have a bit of a bad rep with the public.

A lot of people have an impression that supermarkets are ripping them off, making millions of profits while everyone suffers from the cost of living crisis.

And, you know, there are legitimate arguments about some of the profits that supermarkets make and some of the big...

salaries, etc, etc.

But we have had two CMA inquiries on this which have found that isn't true and that the UK market is extremely competitive.

It's making it sound as if supermarkets are being kick-dragging and screaming into this process rather than wanting to help keep prices down.

It's giving the impression that the government is doing everything and I think it's just adding to that tension really.

So nutrient profile model would be a good example where actually we are not against the changes per se.

The problem is the model as it's been designed at the moment simply is unworkable.

So we are saying to government, use the time to actually find a solution so we can use the new model.

And at that time, that then allows us to focus on keeping food prices down.

The goal here has to be affordable, healthy food, right, where healthy food is the most affordable option for people.

And so people are not priced out of good health.

And all the work that all of these different policy measures, one of which is the updated nutrient profile model, are gradually moving us in that direction where the incentives in the system are oriented towards that.