Public should be ‘reassured’ by Iran war food shortage preparation – Peter Kyle

Though the war is not likely to lead to critical shortages, a reasonable worst-case scenario from leaked Government plans shared with the newspaper suggests there could be less variety on supermarket shelves should fighting continue unabated.

Carbon dioxide (CO2) supplies would also be hit should the conflict last into the summer according to the same leak, which would have an impact on the storage of packaged meats and salads, and on breweries, who use the gas to make drinks fizzy.

On Thursday, the boss of Tesco said the supermarket was in “constant contact” with the Government to support its contingency planning, but had not seen any problems with suppliers so far.

Peter Kyle told Times Radio the Government did not comment on leaks, but he added: “It is difficult for me, because, of course, these leaks are very unhelpful.

“But when people do read it, they need to be reassured that we are doing this kind of planning, and we are doing this kind of scenario planning.

“Bear in mind that back in Covid, Boris Johnson missed five Cobra meetings in the lead up to it.

“I can tell you, because I’m in these meetings, the Prime Minister has been there since the very start, and he is going through personally and driving deep dives into lots of areas of resilience throughout our economy.”

He later insisted supplies of carbon dioxide are “not a concern” for the UK.

The Business Secretary also told Sky News: “If any of these things change, I will be up front with the public about it in advance so that we can prepare.

“But right now, people should go on as they are, enjoying beer, enjoying their meats, enjoying all the salads.

“But also there are critical uses for CO2: MRI scanning, for example, water purification; it’s involved in our nuclear industry, our civil nuclear power industry, some defensive uses for it as well.

“There’s lots of needs for CO2, so these are the reasons why I took it so seriously way back to six months ago, not just in the last few weeks.”

Mr Kyle said he had mothballed a CO2-producing plant in Teesside shortly after becoming Business Secretary in order to prevent it shutting down completely.

On the outbreak of war, the Government provided funding to reactivate the Ensus bioethanol plant, which makes CO2 as a by-product, in order to shore up supplies of the gas.

Tesco chief executive Ken Murphy said the Government was “doing the right thing” in planning for the worst-case scenario.

He told reporters during a press call: “We are in constant contact with the Government for their scenario planning and we completely support their efforts.

“At this time, we haven’t seen any issues and are in very strong shape. We constantly talk to our suppliers and none of our suppliers have raised any issues.”

A Government spokesperson said: “Reasonable worst-case scenarios are a planning tool used by experts and are not a prediction of future events.”

Elsewhere, Rachel Reeves has expanded plans to cut electricity bills for thousands of UK manufacturing firms as she continues talks in Washington DC focused on the economic fallout from the Iran conflict.

In a bid to help businesses hit by rising costs, a plan announced last summer to cut electricity bills by up to 25% for more than 7,000 UK businesses will be expanded to cover 10,000 firms.

The British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme (BICS) will cut costs by up to £40 per megawatt-hour from 2027 by exempting businesses from certain extra charges that currently support green energy and back-up power supply systems.

An additional one-off payment in 2027 will be given to an extra 3,000 businesses, including companies in the automotive, aerospace, steel and pharmaceuticals sectors.

The Chancellor, who is in the US for the International Monetary Fund (IMF) spring meetings, said the plan will help UK businesses compete and create jobs despite the uncertain economic backdrop.

During her trip, she has stepped up criticism of US-Israeli military action in Iran, saying war was a “mistake” and has not made the world a safer place.

Her comments came as she was due to meet US treasury secretary Scott Bessent, who has referred to the impact of the war as “short-term volatility for long-term gain” which he said would prevent Tehran developing a nuclear weapon.

The White House has said talks are ongoing about holding fresh face-to-face negotiations between the US and Iran and that Washington had not yet formally requested an extension of the ceasefire due to expire next Tuesday.