Rishi Sunak faces grilling from senior MPs TODAY over what he is doing to stop ‘profiteering’ on soaring food and fuel costs – and complaints banks are offering ‘measly’ savings rates as mortgages spike
Rishi Sunak is facing a grilling from senior MPs today over what he is doing to stop Brits being exploited amid soaring inflation.
The PM is set for a torrid time when he makes his twice-yearly appearance before the powerful Commons Liaison Committee this afternoon.
Anger has been growing at allegations that food and fuel costs are being kept high as retailers bolster their profits.
Meanwhile, banks are facing fury that spiking interest rates are being immediately passed on to mortgages – but savings rates are lagging far behind.
The average five-year fix topped 6 per cent this morning inflicting more pain on homeowners.
Regulators are looking at whether there is evidence of profiteering across different industries. And drivers will be able to see how pump prices vary across the country as part of a new transparency push.
Rishi Sunak is set for a torrid time when he makes his twice-yearly appearance before the powerful Commons Liaison Committee this afternoon
Anger has been growing at allegations that food and fuel costs are being kept high as retailers bolster their profits
Brits have been spending a fifth more at food stores than before Covid, but getting less as inflation wreaks havoc
She said the move to enforce more transparency on prices around the country ‘is welcome and it will help’.
Harriett Baldwin, the Tory chair of the Treasury Committee, will lead the questioning on the squeeze on living standards.
She told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that retailers had been ‘slow to bring down prices now that we’re past the peak in oil prices’.
‘The thing that annoys me from a Treasury point of view is that the Chancellor cut fuel duty by 5p to help families with their cost of living and yet it doesn’t seem to have been passed on… basically that whole £2.4billion cost to the Exchequer has gone straight to the bottom line of the petrol retailers,’ she said.
Ms Baldwin also highlighted issues with banks failing to pass on the benefits of higher interest rates at the same pace as they inflict pain on mortgage-payers.
‘It’s been very evident that on the day the Bank of England hikes rates, which they need to do to tackle inflation, people get a call from their mortgage provider saying your rate is going up if they are variable. But savings rates have languished, sometimes with a 0 per cent handle,’ she said.
‘We’re quite sure these rates are measly and that the banks are not treating our constituents fairly… We’re particularly concerned about some of our older constituents who have savings, who are unable to use internet banking and find it difficult to switch.’
Sainsbury’s said food inflation is ‘starting to fall’ today as the supermarket group saw sales boosted by bank holidays and warmer weather.
The UK’s second largest grocery chain also said sales volumes returned to growth last year, with shoppers buying more items despite the intense pressure on rampant food and drink inflation.
Latest official figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show food inflation eased slightly in May but remained at a stubbornly high 18.4%.
Sainsbury’s chief executive Simon Roberts said price rises are now stalling, with prices on the retailer’s 100 most popular products falling over the latest quarter.
Products like bread, butter, milk, pasta and chicken have seen price cuts in recent months as falls in costs further down the supply chain pass through to customers.
However, the UK’s competition watchdog is probing accusations supermarkets are profiteering from higher prices and whether wholesale price reductions are appearing on shelves quickly enough.
Mr Sunak will also be grilled over the environment when he appears before the Liaison Committee, made up of the chairs of other select committees, on Tuesday afternoon.
Five MPs will focus on public services, with questions expected on the NHS as well as the justice and education systems.
Mr Sunak will face questions on the net zero strategy from Philip Dunne, the Tory chair of the Environmental Audit Committee, after the resignation of Lord Zac Goldsmith.
The Conservative peer quit as a Foreign Office minister with stinging criticism of the Prime Minister, who he accused of being ‘simply uninterested’ in the climate crisis.
Sir Chris Bryant will pose questions on standards after Boris Johnson’s allies were criticised over their attacks on the Commons inquiry into his Partygate denials.
The Liaison Committee is chaired by Sir Bernard Jenkin, the Tory MP who also sits on the Privileges Committee. He has refused to stay away from the hearing despite allegations he attended a lockdown-busting drinks do at Parliament.
Ukraine and security matters will also feature, with questioning from Home Affairs’ Dame Diana Johnson and Foreign Affairs’ Alicia Kearns.
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