Why it’s not quite back to the 70s with talk of food price controls

Statutory caps were brought in under Heath, now the government wants a voluntary store scheme to meet Sunak's pledge to halve inflation

A cost-of-living crisis. Pressure on the government to step in to help hard-pressed consumers. Calls for supermarkets to cut prices on staple food items. Substitute Rishi Sunak for Ted Heath, step into a time capsule and journey back to Britain in 1972.

Let's be clear: ministers are not considering imposing the sort of statutory price controls on a loaf of bread, a pint of milk or a bar of soap that were put in place half a century ago. Not now and not ever, according to Whitehall sources. But it has emerged that Sunak and his team are certainly not averse to the big supermarkets coming up with their own voluntary agreement to reduce the cost of the weekly shop.