Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions the Government has had with the Competitions and Markets Authority on supermarket pricing levels during the covid-19 outbreak.

The UK has a highly resilient food supply chain and representatives of our leading supermarkets are working to ensure people have the food and products they need. Retailers will work hard to mitigate any disruption to their supply chain that could impact on their costs, to keep customer prices down as far as possible.

The Business Secretary met the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), business, trade and consumer organisations on Thursday 9 April to discuss ways in which profiteering could be tackled. The Prime Minister has been clear the Government will look at further action, including legislation if necessary, to address any significant issues.

We have not seen any evidence that profiteering on food is a significant or widespread issue across the UK at present. We are in regular communication with all major retailers, who have been responsible, committed and co-operative in their response to Covid-19. We are aware, however, of concerns that a small minority of businesses are exploiting consumers through harmful sales and pricing practices, and the CMA has created a COVID-19 taskforce to address such issues. They have already approached traders and trade associations on this matter.