We're in a cost-of-greed crisis

Last month's inflation figures confirmed what people across Glasgow know already - that food prices have continued to rise out of control. Every week on the doorsteps people tell me just how much they feel the pinch in their pockets after their food shop. For some it is a real struggle now to keep themselves and their families fed - demonstrated by the record demand for assistance from food banks.

The Trussell Trust, which operates a wide network of food banks across the UK including several in Glasgow, revealed recently that almost three million emergency food parcels were given out in the last financial year, with over a million of those being used to feed hungry children.

It's not hard to understand this surge in demand. Every single reader will no doubt have noticed the spiralling cost of food. Every single week, the total at the supermarket checkout just grows and grows.

The Pantry Network, which operates across our city and aims to provide a dignified way for people to buy surplus food at a low cost, has been an absolute lifeline for many during the current cost of living crisis. When the network was founded by my SNP colleague Mandy Morgan back in 2018, I don't think she could have realised then quite how important it would become in tackling food poverty today.

And the Scottish Child Payment has played a crucial role too in filling hungry young tummies during the crisis. On a recent visit to One Parent Families Scotland, I heard first-hand from mothers who said that they didn't know how they would have been able to keep food on the table without the £25 weekly Scottish Government payment.

🧸 The game-changing Scottish Child Payment is making a massive difference in the lives of many children across Scotland.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Our flagship social security benefit is unique to Scotland, helping to lift children and families out of poverty. pic.twitter.com/hvWNTKpe2y

— The SNP (@theSNP) May 30, 2023

But these mitigations are not going to tackle the root cause of the problem. We aren't just in a cost of living crisis, but a cost of greed crisis.

Some of our European neighbours have been taking action to tackle food inflation and price gouging. The Irish government recently ordered supermarkets to bring down prices and the French Government has capped food prices on a wide range of products to "the lowest possible level".

The British Government's response has been pathetic in comparison. Westminster has pretty much done nothing to lower prices or help families with rising food prices. The SNP has been calling on the Prime Minister to take tough action to lower prices, investigate price gouging practices, and stop inflation being used as an excuse for profiteering.

Yet what has Rishi Sunak's response been? At the weekend, he briefed the media that he would ask supermarkets to consider voluntarily capping the prices of some products. It really is the kind of detached and pathetic action we've come to expect from our obscenely wealthy Prime Minister. This is a man who recently paid to have the electricity grid upgraded so that he could heat his newly installed private swimming pool. He will never understand the struggles of ordinary people and he won't act in their best interests.

Downing Street can't even admit the role it has played in forcing food inflation higher. The brief but disastrous reign of Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng is still biting, but the problems began long before then. Westminster has no strategic vision when it comes to domestic food security and every single person in the UK has been failed by successive administrations in London.

When Brexit was thrown into the mix, we were left with a perfect storm. Scotland did not vote to leave the European Union but we were dragged out regardless and have to suffer all the problems that red tape, labour shortages, lack of market access, and border delays bring.

And if you think it's bad now, there is worse still to come. More post-Brexit bureauocracy is set to phase in this year which will involve more thorough checks on imports and inspection fees. There are very real fears that this could bring further food shortages and force prices up further.

A few years ago, we were being wrongly warned that it was Scottish independence that would lead to increased food costs. Back in 2014, Scottish Labour even staged a media stunt outside an Asda superstore with signs telling people to vote No and warning of 'higher prices' if they didn't. The people who spun those yarns haven't even got the grace to admit they got it wrong, let alone apologise.

With Brexit damaging the economy and raising prices further, the pro-Brexit Labour Party and the Tories are only making the cost of living crisis worse. Neither of them are offering hope, nor have they got a way out of this mess. Just this week, Keir Starmer doubled down on his failed “Make Brexit Work” rhetoric yet offered absolutely no vision or strategy.

It would be remiss of me to pretend that there is a quick fix to this crisis or that we can reverse double-digit inflation overnight. But we can't keep going on like this, lurching from one disaster to the next. Brexit was sold on a lie that people could “Take Back Control”. It is wildly out of control and the solution for Scotland is pretty obvious - we need to take control back from Westminster.

The text of this article first appeared in David Linden MP's regular column in the Glasgow Times on Friday 2nd June 2023.