Michael Simmons
Our supermarkets are showing remarkable restraint. The previous Chancellor and now the new one can’t resist slandering them. In an article for The Sunday Telegraph, John Healey writes that ‘we will be watching closely for any suggestions that customers are being taken for a ride at the pump or the till’. If there’s any evidence of British shoppers being ripped off then he assures readers that ‘our regulators have the powers to clamp down on it’.
The truth is that supermarkets are a miraculous innovation whose praises are not sung enough
Gee thanks, John. Trouble is, ‘price gouging’ is a made up, dishonest, dog whistle myth. We know this because, in the same article, Healey tells us so: ‘Companies’ willingness to work with the Government throughout this crisis has been positive, and there has been no significant evidence of so-called price gouging’. And he’s correct.
The truth is that supermarkets are a miraculous innovation whose praises are not sung enough. Far from being profit factories British supermarkets are so competitive and so efficient that cheap food in Britain is more affordable than anywhere else in the world.
