<\/p>\n
John Swinney at the SNP manifesto launch (pic: DB Media Services)<\/p>\n
John Swinney will defy critics of his food price cap plan when he tells trade unionists today that he is prepared to take on what he terms \u201cvested interests\u201d.<\/p>\n
They include retailers who have told the First Minister that ordering supermarkets to limit the price of basic foods is a \u201cpotty gimmick\u201d.<\/p>\n
Mr Swinney will tell the annual Scottish Trade Union Congress that he believes a cap on a basket of essentials like milk, bread and eggs will have a \u201ctransformational\u201d impact on easing the cost of living.<\/p>\n
Addressing the congress in Dundee he will say: \u201cAs First Minister,\u00a0when it comes to helping\u00a0people\u00a0with the cost of living, I am not afraid to take on\u00a0vested interests.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know just how unaffordable food is\u00a0for too many people \u2013 and it is\u00a0impacting\u00a0on\u00a0health\u00a0and nutrition. That\u2019s\u00a0why I will use\u00a0public health powers to introduce a maximum\u00a0price for essential food items.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are some who have\u00a0criticised\u00a0this policy.\u00a0But congress, we will take forward fair food pricing because\u00a0it is the right thing to do.\u00a0I believe it will be transformational. <\/p>\n
\u201cIn these tough times, that is the sort of bold vision that you should rightly expect from your government.\u201d<\/p>\n
The price cap plan was announced last week at the launch of the SNP\u2019s manifesto and was immediately criticised by the Scottish Retail Consortium. David Lonsdale, the consortium\u2019s director, today reiterated its opposition to the plan and said the best solution to lower prices was to cut the cost of doing business.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have amongst the most affordable grocery prices in Western Europe thanks to fierce competition between supermarkets,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe challenge facing retailers is a combination of spiking energy, supply chain, and commodity costs resulting from the Middle East conflict, and the soaring cost of government policies. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe best way to keep shop prices down for struggling households in the short, medium, and long term is to support retailers\u2019 efforts and to reduce the public policy costs which are pushing up food prices in the first place. <\/p>\n
Supermarkets would bear the brunt of the cap (pic: DB Media Services)<\/p>\n
\u201cMandatory price controls and attempts to compel retailers to sell goods at a loss are not the answer.\u201d<\/p>\n
This year Scottish retailers will face about a\u00a0third of a\u00a0billion pounds in costs which were not in place in 2024.<\/p>\n
That includes \u00a3160 million in UK Extended Producer Responsibility\u00a0fees\u00a0and \u00a3190 million extra in Employer National Insurance contributions.\u00a0<\/p>\n
These stores are also facing millions of\u00a0pounds of\u00a0new costs through the Employment Rights Act and upcoming deposit return scheme. <\/p>\n
On top of this larger stores in Scotland \u2013 many of them grocers \u2013 will pay \u00a354 million extra in business rates compared to their equivalent sized English counterparts.<\/p>\n
In Dundee the First Minister will take on the \u201cfar right\u201d and promise to have \u201cno truck\u201d with Reform leader Nigel Farage.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere will be no grubby deals. No backroom conversations. I will use every power at my disposal to\u00a0lock Nigel\u00a0Farage and the\u00a0far\u00a0right\u00a0out of Holyrood,\u201d he will say.<\/p>\n
\t #Swinney #defiant #potty #food #price #cap #plan #Daily #Business<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
John Swinney at the SNP manifesto launch (pic: DB Media Services) John Swinney will defy…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7],"tags":[272,19,306,9343,9347,1261,154,9348,100,9344,3054,9345,9346],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4389"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4389"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4389\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}