Healey’s profiteering warning on food and fuel risks row with retailers

‘Conflict and uncertainty increases inflation … pushes up costs for businesses and governments alike,’ Healey wrote. Photograph: Jack Taylor/Reuters

The chancellor, John Healey, has said the government is standing by to prevent the public from “being taken for a ride at the pump or the till” as the Iran war continues to hit prices.

While he said there had been “no significant evidence of so-called price gouging” during the crisis, he used a weekend column to tell the big retailers that ministers were “watching closely” for any signs of profiteering.