THE Treasury has denied any plans to bring in food price caps after newspaper reports suggested Labour could be seeking to copy the SNP plans, but one thing that has stuck out is how the policy has been covered by the media.
Just over a month ago, when John Swinney announced the SNP’s manifesto pledge to cap the prices of essentials in Scottish supermarkets in a bid to ensure that everyone can afford a nutritious diet – the plan was branded “communism” by one broadcaster.
“This would, of course, be government intervention into the free market, government fixing the price of food in shops, something that we've known over the last century, known it better as, well, communism,” ITV’s Peter Smith said at the time.
But when the Financial Times reported that the UK Labour Government was set to ask large supermarkets to introduce voluntary price caps on key groceries in return for lifting some regulations, the broadcast media’s coverage stood out.
ITV didn’t top line its story on the UK Government plans, instead running a story with the headline “drop in UK inflation is the lull before the storm”.
About halfway down the story, it then claims that the UK Government can see that inflation is set to rise and “is trying to get out ahead of it”, before noting that supermarkets have been asked to consider freezing prices.
On Tuesday, the BBC ran headlines that had stark differences.
Two headlines on the BBC on the same day. One relates to the SNP Govt's attempt to cap the price of essential food items. The other relates to the UK Labour Govt's attempt to cap the price of essential food items. Near identical aims, but completely opposite framing. pic.twitter.com/hh8jrF23s5
— MSM Monitor (@msm_monitor) May 19, 2026
“Swinney defends food prices policy ahead of first minister vote,” the BBC headline read in the Scottish politics section of its website.
The top line of the story even went so far as to say that the First Minister denied the policy as an “attempt to force a fight with the UK Government”.
Swinney was even asked if he was looking for a “punch-up” with Westminster in order to “make the case for independence” on the BBC’s Today Programme earlier that day.
But when it came to reports that the UK Government was planning a very similar policy – the only difference that the SNP’s would be a legal cap while the UK’s would be “voluntary” for supermarkets – the BBC ran a very different headline.
It said: “Supermarkets urged to limit food prices by government.” By Wednesday morning, the headline had been updated to read: “Supermarkets hit back over pressure to cap price of milk, bread and eggs.”
MSM monitor on X/Twitter, picked up on this, writing: "Two headlines on the BBC on the same day. One relates to the SNP Govt's attempt to cap the price of essential food items. The other relates to the UK Labour Govt's attempt to cap the price of essential food items.
"Near identical aims, but completely opposite framing."
This isn’t the first time that the media has got itself in a bit of a twist over similar policies north and south of the Border, but it is interesting to see them scramble to find something wrong with the SNP’s pledges, while reporting the UK Government’s approach in a better light.
The policies may be similar, but the tone and treatment is not. That tells its own story.
