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Lord Hannan of Kingsclere (Non-Afl)

Speaking in the House of Lords on 20 May 2026

Debate

Supermarkets: Voluntary Price Caps

Contribution

My Lords, at a time of rising economic populism, there is a responsibility on all of us in this House, and especially Ministers, to be calm, factual and accurate. To follow on from the remarks of my friend the noble Baroness, Lady Jones of Moulsecoomb, and the noble Lord, Lord Sahota, there is a widespread view among the public that supermarkets are making huge profits. A survey by the Institute of Economic Affairs found that the median voter thinks that supermarkets make a 50% profit, whereas the actual figure is about 3%. Will the Minister take this opportunity to repeat the very basic economic verity that price rises are a signal to producers to make more of something and that if prices are artificially frozen then there is less incentive to bring that product to market, so you end up with a worse shortage and higher prices than you had before you started?

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