Plans to cap the prices supermarkets charge for certain items have been quietly dropped by the government after an outburst from trade lobby the British Retail Consortium.
The BRC had countered that any cap would have little effect on sky-high food inflation given the length of supply chains and contracts.
"The government has never been considering imposing price caps. We continue to engage with supermarkets about the best way to support consumers," a spokesperson for the government told the Telegraph, which had originally broken the story last month.
High food prices are a key reason why the UK inflation of 8.7% is more than double some other countries and notably the US, which this week reported a larger-than-expected drop to 4%.
An investigation is already underway into Britain’s food supply chains by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to identify any areas that might need intervention.
Supermarkets have also started to reduce prices themselves due to falling wholesale prices.
Waitrose and Asda this week announced major price promotions, while Tesco and Sainsbury’s have cut prices on milk and other dairy products.