Jeremy Hunt pushes for investigation into firms exploiting inflation crisis for profit

Jeremy Hunt will this week pile pressure on regulators to probe whether firms are exploiting rampant inflation to bolster their profits.

The chancellor will raise concerns with industry watchdogs about supposed profiteering in their sectors, quizzing them on how they are tackling the issue.

Mr Hunt will meet representatives from the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the watchdogs for energy, water and communications.

Wednesday’s meeting with the CMA, Ofgem, Ofwat and Ofcom follows a warning from the Bank of England that some retailers were jacking up prices or failing to pass on lower costs to consumers as a way of boosting their profit margins while inflation soars.

Rishi Sunak warned retailers about pricing "responsibly and fairly", saying household weekly shopping bills had "gone up far too much in the past few months".

And Mr Hunt confirmed that ministers were talking to the food industry about "potential measures to ease the pressure on consumers".

Tory peer Baroness Ros Altmann called on Mr Hunt to remind companies they have a “duty to ensure they do not profiteer in the aftermath of a national emergency”.

The former minister told The Independent: “The chancellor must urgently take charge of the current situation.

“It’s time that corporate social responsibility included the concept of behaving responsibly in an inflationary emergency.”

The CMA is already investigating the grocery sector amid “ongoing concerns about high prices” and is looking at whether increases are linked to “any failure in competition”.

On Monday Downing Street confirmed that Mr Hunt would meet regulators on Wednesday “to see if there’s any more we can do to ensure falls in costs are always passed on to consumers as appropriate”.

Mr Sunak’s spokesman said: “We want to discuss what action regulators are taking, what more we could do working together, if there any barriers to them going further.”

Bosses from four of the UK’s biggest grocers, Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda and Morrisons, will on Tuesday be quizzed by MPs on Parliament’s Business and Trade Committee on rising food and fuel prices, as well as when costs may start coming down.

But industry leaders have hit back at suggestions of profiteering, with the British Retail Consortium claiming there had been a "regular stream of price cuts" by supermarkets despite experiencing "extremely tight" profit margins.

And the UK’s second biggest grocer Sainsbury’s on Monday announced a £15m investment in cutting the price of cupboard essentials such as rice and pasta.

“These latest price cuts will help reassure customers that we will continue to pass on savings as soon as we see the wholesale price of food fall,” commercial director Rhian Bartlett said.

It followed official figures last week that showed consumer prices index inflation failed to ease as hoped in May, remaining at 8.7 per cent.

The Bank of England subsequently raised interest rates to a 15-year high last week in a shock move designed to tame inflation.

Mr Sunak on Sunday urged cash-strapped Britons to "hold our nerve" over high interest rates as he stressed "there is no alternative" to stamping out inflation.

He said "inflation is the enemy" as he defended the Bank of England’s rate hike, even as it piled pressure on mortgage-holders.