John Swinney wants to decide Scotland’s food prices |
First Minister John Swinney needed a headline-grabbing new policy for the launch of his party’s Holyrood election manifesto today, and it came in the form of a pledge to cap supermarket prices on ‘essential’ foods.
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Speaking in Glasgow’s East End, Swinney said that while inflation has come down, people are struggling to afford their groceries to such an extent that ‘for some the cost of food is so high that it is hitting their health and wellbeing’.
He went on: ‘Now, with the current powers of our parliament, I cannot normally set prices at the till. But things have got so tough it is now impacting on our nation’s nutrition. That is a public health issue, and I have public health powers.’
Swinney intends to use his public health powers to set a maximum price for certain food items, such as bread, milk, cheese, eggs, rice and chicken, in large supermarkets. More specifically, supermarkets will be required to cap the cost of at least one variation of those items, such as one particular brand of bread, while leaving the costs of other brands at the regular market price.
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