Food bank users declining potatoes as cooking costs too high, says Iceland boss

Richard Walker says some UK households cannot afford the energy to boil root vegetables

Some food bank users are declining to accept products such as potatoes as they cannot afford the energy to boil them, the boss of the supermarket Iceland has said, as the soaring cost of living pushes vulnerable groups to the financial brink.

Richard Walker, who says the 1,000-stores in the budget chain are in the poorest communities in the UK", also called on the government to help businesses that are being forced to increase prices significantly as their own costs dramatically increase.