First Minister of Scotland John Swinney has pledged to cap the price of “essential” supermarket groceries in the country if his Scottish National Party (SNP) wins the Holyrood election in May, according to a report from the BBC.

Launching his party’s manifesto on Thursday, the leader said he would use Scotland’s devolved powers to compel supermarkets to limit the cost of bread, cheese, milk, and other items.

“People are, quite simply, struggling to afford food,” Swinney, who has served as First Minister for two years, said at the launch. “In a rich country like Scotland, that is a moral outrage.”

The SNP manifesto suggests it will use public health legislation to impose statutory price ceilings on a basket of 20 to 50 “essential” food items. The policy would only apply to “large supermarkets” and only require one line of the food item available at that price, allowing more expensive lines to also be offered, according to the manifesto.

The UK government holds the power to block such legislation under its Internal Market Act, which enforces shared trading standards across the Union. The manifesto urged the government not to use these powers, describing the policy as a public health measure “similar to the minimum unit price of alcohol”, which is not policy across the UK.

The policy has been criticised by industry associations in the country. Ewan MacDonald-Russell, deputy head of the Scottish Retail Consortium, said in a press release that Scottish grocery prices are among the most affordable of all large European economies.

“Supermarkets have always run on very slim margins, especially when compared with other parts of the food supply chain, but profits have fallen significantly in recent times” he added. “Even so, retailers continue to invest heavily to keep prices down, expand their affordable food ranges, lock in the price of many essentials, and raise pay for staff.

“Many of the costs keeping shop prices high are now arising from the muddle of new regulations and taxes coming from government policies.”

The Scottish Grocers' Federation were similarly sceptical, arguing that although the policy only targets large supermarkets, forcing lower prices at the top could create a competitive disadvantage for small, local stores.

Tesco, Scotland’s largest supermarket by market share according to the Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce, reported an annual after-tax profit of £1.78 billion yesterday, up 9.6 per cent from the year before.

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