STEPHEN Flynn’s department has been tasked with implementing the supermarket food price cap, it has been reported.
The Sunday Times reports that the policy has been placed under the former SNP Westminster leader’s economy portfolio.
First Minister John Swinney pledged to bring in the policy within the first 100 days of a re-elected SNP Government, with insiders telling the newspaper that they are “on track” to deliver draft legislation by early September.
The pledge was the flagship policy of the SNP manifesto ahead of the Holyrood election. It said the party would “establish statutory price ceilings on a basket of 20 to 50 essential food items at large supermarkets, such as bread, milk and eggs”.
The party stressed that the legislation “would allow supermarkets to continue to set prices on all other food products, including other bread, milk, eggs, cheese etc as long as one product, for example one type of bread, does not exceed the maximum price”.
Swinney previously said that the devolved Scottish parliament would not ordinarily have the powers to bring in the policy, but insisted it could do so under public health provisions because the cost-of-living crisis has “got so tough it is now impacting upon our nation’s nutrition”.
However, the policy is being led by the Economy Secretary, rather than Health Secretary Angela Constance.
Flynn is understood to have held an introductory meeting with retailers in June, where they made their opposition to the plan clear.
David Lonsdale, director of the Scottish Retail Consortium, said: “It’s 11 weeks since the first minister proclaimed his intention to introduce a statutory cap on some food prices.
“We remain none the wiser on even the most rudimentary details. For example, which 50 products would be in scope? Which stores would be affected?
“How would prices be set and on what basis? How long would price controls last for? Who would monitor and enforce all of this?
“We don’t even know what alternative options they considered and if they even did so. It reinforces our view that all of this has been poorly thought through.”
Lonsdale claimed the cap would “do nothing” to tackle the root cause of elevated food prices, which he said stems from the rising costs of producing and distributing food.
“Instead of pursuing a price cap, Scottish ministers should work with us to bring down the statutory costs affecting food retailers and food producers and help us persuade the UK government to reduce businesses’ energy costs,” he added.
Tom Arthur, the Minister for Business and Fair Work – who reports to Flynn – is understood to have been tasked with the day-to-day implementation of the policy, backed by civil servants working on the draft legislation.
A summit with retailers is believed to be in the works.
A Scottish Government spokesman said: “The statutory food price cap that we will introduce will help people with the cost of living by keeping costs low on essential foods such as bread, milk, eggs and other items.
“The Scottish Government regularly engages with the food and drink industry, retailers and producers and will continue to do so as these proposals develop.”
