JEREMY Hunt will order consumer watchdogs to crackdown on supermarkets amid fears inflation is being used as a cover to hike prices and profits.
The Chancellor is set to meet food, energy, telecoms and water regulators on Wednesday.
PAJeremy Hunt will meet with consumer regulators this week where he will ask them to crackdown on greedy supermarket bosses[/caption]
He’ll press them on what action is being taken to ensure consumers aren’t being ripped off by greedy bosses.
The Bank of England has hinted some supermarkets could be failing to pass on lower wholesale costs to shoppers.
A Treasury source said: “Wholesale costs are rapidly falling, but consumer prices aren’t falling as fast.”
“A lot of that delay is normal as companies are locked into long-term contracts, but the Chancellor wants to see if there’s a problem beyond that.”
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The Competition and Markets Authority has launched an investigation into potential anti-competitive behaviour.
But supermarket chiefs insist they’re doing everything they can to keep prices down amid Britain’s stubbornly high inflation rate of 8.7%.
Tomorrow a Commons committee will grill bosses from Sainsbury’s, Asda, Tesco and Morrisons on rising food and fuel prices.
Figures from the Office for National Statistics last week showed food prices have spiralled to an eye-watering 18.4%.
Rishi Sunak has vowed to put pressure on supermarket chiefs to help cut the cost of weekly shops.
He said: “We’re looking at the supermarkets making sure that they’re behaving responsibly and fairly when it comes to pricing all those products, to make sure that it eases the burden on your weekly shop.”
Mr Sunak has staked his career on halving ripping inflation – currently at 8.7 per cent – by the end of the year.
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His tight hold on the purse strings has seen Ministers face criticism for not stumping up enough support for families, especially those facing mortgage misery.
But Mr Sunak yesterday insisted: “We’ve got to hold our nerve, stick to the plan and we will get through this.”