𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Rachel Reeves has been warned that her “Soviet-style” plans to pressure supermarkets to cap food prices could push the cost of a weekly shop even higher. In a desperate attempt to control spiralling cost-of-living pressures, it was suggested the Chancellor would urge grocery chiefs to bring in a price cap.

But Shadow Environment Secretary Victoria Atkins savaged the move, telling the Daily Express that Labour’s “costly red tape and the vindictive family farm tax have all contributed to this food and farming emergency.” Ms Atkins, who has joined the Express campaign to axe the family farm tax, warned the Chancellor’s proposal was “only going to make the situation worse as it will bake in high food prices and lead to empty shelves”. She said: “The Conservatives have warned about this since Reeves’s first Budget.

“Six months ago, I sent suggestions from businesses to ministers to try to ease food price rises. They did nothing, and now the Chancellor is desperately looking for a way out. The problem is, her Soviet-style solution is only going to make the situation worse as it will bake in high food prices and lead to empty shelves.”

Critics point to surging taxes, energy prices and business rates – all driven by Labour’s “anti-business practices” – as the real causes of soaring food prices.

When Labour came to power, it introduced the family farm tax, which dragged many of Britain’s farms into death duties for the first time, prompting this newspaper to launch its Stop The Family Farm Tax crusade.

Campaigners warned the policy would break up farms that had been in the same family for generations and threaten Britain’s food security.

The Lincolnshire MP’s intervention comes as high street grandees also panned the Chancellor’s intervention, warning that price controls risk distorting markets and driving up costs elsewhere.

But the Treasury distanced itself from accusations of neo-communist policies, with a spokesman insisting the Chancellor “has been clear we want to do more to help keep costs down for families and will set out more detail in due course”.

It is understood that government-mandated price caps are not currently being considered, with ministers instead pointing to other cost-easing measures, including freezing prescription charges and rail fares.