The Government must urgently put cost-of-living to the top of their agenda
BRITAIN urgently needs a cost-of-living strategy.
Rising prices are a much bigger crisis for all of us than the apparent party culture in Downing Street.
It needs to be moved to the top of the Government’s agenda right away.
With 1,000 stores right across the UK, we operate in some of the most deprived communities in the country.
Some of our customers are trying to feed their families on budgets of as little as £25 a week.
The coming cost-of-living squeeze threatens to force some of our customers to choose between heating and eating - to turn to food banks or go hungry.
There are already more food banks than branches of McDonald’s in the UK - a fact which should shame a rich G7 country in 2022.
At Iceland, we have always done our utmost to help our hard-pressed customers by offering the best value we can.
Most read in The Sun
'Much worse to come'
We have already pledged to freeze the price of all our £1 Iceland frozen lines.
Recently we launched an ethical credit scheme, the Iceland Food Club, that advances microloans to help our customers manage their money.
We also supported Marcus Rashford’s campaign to tackle child food poverty and last year offered free veg to families in receipt of the Government’s Healthy Start Vouchers.
Yesterday’s inflation figures looked bad – but we already know that there is much worse to come.
Everyone is rightly concerned about the looming impact of rising energy bills on domestic consumers, when the current Ofgem price cap is raised in April.
But few are looking at the way spiralling gas and electricity prices will create huge challenges for business – or at how these will ultimately affect consumers too.
There is no price cap for business and the energy cost increases we are now facing are extremely scary.
Richard Walker
There is no price cap for business and the energy cost increases we are now facing are extremely scary.
This is on top of rising commodity prices, higher shipping and labour costs, plus a range of other pressures all add up to a perfect storm.
Business is not a limitless sponge that can simply absorb all this. Every retailer will be forced to raise its prices.
