'Fastest U-turn ever!' Labour MP skewered by GB News host over decision to scrap food price cap less than 24 hours after being announced

GB News host Ellie Costello has grilled a Labour MP on the Government's "fastest U-turn ever" after announcing it has scrapped plans to impose a cap on food prices.

Speaking to GB News, Chief Secretary to the Treasury Lucy Rigby assured that the Government is "trying to help families right across this country with the cost of living".

Pressing Ms Rigby on the decision, Ellie said: "This idea of price caps on essential items in supermarkets, has this been the fastest U-turn ever?

"Because it was floated yesterday, then it was very quickly shot down by the Governor of the Bank of England and supermarket bosses, who were calling the idea lunacy, like something out of the Soviet Union or or Venezuela?"

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The Labour MP confirmed: "Well, I'm happy to be able to tell you we're not introducing mandatory price caps.

"There have been a discussions between the Chancellor and the supermarkets, as indeed there've been discussions with other industries too, about how we try and put some downwards pressure on prices so that we can be helping people with the cost of living."

Ms Rigby also highlighted the Government's plan to freeze fuel duty until 2027, as well as targeted cuts to agri-food tariffs.

She revealed: "We are getting rid of some tariffs on agri-foods, which is something else which is going to help with the price of the weekly shop.

"But this package all together is all about trying to help families right across this country with the cost of living.

"Because we understand that family budgets are stretched at the moment, so this comes on the back of a whole host of things which we've been doing as a Government.

"For example raising the minimum wage and the national living wage - this is all geared to trying to help families right across this country with the cost of living."

Pushing back on Ms Rigby's remarks, host Stephen Dixon questioned whether the changes to tariffs on agri-foods is merely a "gimmick".

He told the MP: "I just wonder how much of a gimmick this is? Because you've been telling us to eat healthily for so long now, and now in terms of this agri-food tariff reduction, it's going to make biscuits and chocolate cheaper to buy for our children this summer. I mean, that's counterintuitive?"

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Disagreeing with Stephen, Ms Rigby hit back: "This new list, and it's not yet been finalised, is going to be around 125 products, all about trying to bring the cost of that weekly shop down. People would just not describe that kind of stuff as a gimmick.

"What we're doing on fuel duty, helping millions of motorists right across this country, that is not a gimmick, which is helping other measures as well on red diesel, for example."

Pushing back on the fuel duty freeze, Stephen then argued: "To be fair, if fuel duty had increased towards the end of the year, that would have been political suicide. She [Rachel Reeves] didn't really have any choice, did she?"

Ms Rigby told GB News: "The plans we inherited as a Government would have seen fuel duty costs for motorists going up.

"The Chancellor took initial action to prevent that rise, and that is helping millions of motorists right across this country.

"We make absolutely no apology whatsoever as a Government for trying to help people right across this country with the cost of living, and we're going to continue to do that."

Ms Rigby was then quizzed on Labour's decision to loosen Russian oil sanctions, asking the MP whether the Government has gone "soft on Putin".

Ms Rigby disagreed, making clear: "Absolutely not, and in fact, the sanctions that we've got in place today as a result of the package that's been announced are much tougher than they were last week.

"We've got one of the best regimes, frankly, for sanctions around the world, so as I said, there's a whole new package that's been announced that makes everything even tougher on Putin, even tougher on on Russia."

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