Shoppers have been told to brace for even more misery at the tills - by the chairman of one of the largest supermarkets in the UK.
Lord Stuart Rose, a Tory Lord who is chairman of Leeds-based giant Asda, has demanded more intervention from the government after warning food prices are going to get even higher, and stay high.
Asked if the 6% rise in food prices we've already seen could get even worse, he replied: “They are going to go higher and they are going to stay high for quite some time, I fear.”
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It comes after the head of Co-Op supermarkets warned “chicken could become as expensive as beef” for the first time in decades as chicken farm feed prices rise.
Tory peer Lord Rose told the BBC ’s Sunday Morning “it’s going to be very hard” and “I see no quick solution to this”.
Lord Rose said Asda had “dropped and locked” prices of some key goods, but warned Brits will need to make hard choices about what they do or don’t buy. “I will personally look at my own behaviour - what things I need and what things I don't need,” he said.
He added: “We have just got rid in the UK of Covid… and we’ve now got to deal with a new phenomenon which is new to many people which is inflation.
“We haven’t seen serious inflation in this country for 40-odd years. That inflation is now coupled with a slowing down of the economy and an … almost inevitable increase in interest rates, starting next week.”
Prices for food and non-alcoholic drinks rose by 5.9% year-on-year to March according to ONS figures.
The former chair of the Remain campaign said “I’m a Conservative but I’m not immune to criticising the government”.
He added: “The Government can't sort out all the problems but the Government can do a few things. It could talk to industry.
“It could talk to the food retailers to make sure that we are cutting out every extra cost."
Labour leader Keir Starmer called for a £600 cut in energy bills funded by a one-off tax on oil and gas super profits to help families.
He said the cost of living has been the "number one issue" on the doorstep while campaigning for the local elections, adding that the Conservatives have said "absolutely nothing" about it.
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