Why SNP's food price cap is such a bad idea and what they should do instead

“There will always be those who want simple answers to complex problems.” Words spoken by an SNP candidate at a fishing industry election debate in Fraserburgh last week. I am pretty sure she is right about that – even if she intended it to be a sideswipe at a fellow SNP candidate in Shetland.

They were the words that came to my mind when I heard that John Swinney was promising to implement price controls on food. It is an “easy” answer to what is a genuinely complex problem – the looming cost-of-living spike following the conflict around Iran – but one that risks doing serious harm to our own farmers and rural communities in the process.

No sooner was the policy announced than we saw some of its less worthy motivations. Judging by the political messaging around it, the proposal has little to do with food prices and quite a lot more to do with the SNP trying to distract attention from their own failings by picking fights with the UK Government.

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John Swinney, seen on the campaign trail at The Barras in Glasgow this month, needs to find a more serious solution to the problem of food price inflation (Picture: Jeff J Mitchell) | Getty Images

Economists’ damning verdict

We have seen this playbook from the SNP before on a whole range of issues, most notably in relation to their desire for another referendum in 2028. For all the myriad complex problems in our world, there is an easy answer – and it usually involves the word “independence”. When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.

Pushing court cases on the legality of a referendum is a waste of money and political capital that could be better spent elsewhere but that, at least, is where the harm stops. Imposing a cap on food prices could have rather more direct and damaging effects, especially on farmers, crofters and other food producers.

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On Tuesday, I asked witnesses about the idea at the Common’s Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee that I chair. Their verdict (shared, it must be said, by almost any economist you care to name) was damning.

Even if the basics of the policy worked, the cost would be picked up not by supermarkets but by farmers. If you live in a rural community – or indeed if you just agree with the basic idea that we should be producing food in our own country – that is bad news.

Help farmers cope with rising costs

Food price inflation is a real problem – just not one that has an easy answer. What could perhaps make a difference would be government intervention to help farmers meet their rising input costs like fuel and fertiliser, so that we do not create the inflationary pressure in the first place.

The cost of this would be relatively modest and would not come with any of the unintended consequences of a price cap. It is not, of course, as eye-catching as saying that the government is going to cap the price of a pint of milk or a loaf of bread – which is probably why the SNP are not interested in that solution.

There will always be those who want simple answers to complex problems – and for years we have been led by a party that is addicted to those simple answers. The only way that they will take these issues more seriously is if they are given a lesson by voters.

Alistair Carmichael is the Scottish Liberal Democrat MP for Orkney and Shetland