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Scotland food prices3 Sep 2026

Scotland plans legal food price caps. Few laws that hit UK limits survived intact.

The Scottish Government has opened a consultation on legal price caps for basic foods and named a Food Prices (Scotland) Bill to bring them in.

4 min read

What happened

The Scottish Government opens a consultation on legal price controls for essential food items, with a Food Prices (Scotland) Bill named in the 2026-27 legislative programme.

A public consultation on the plan is open until . Business Minister Tom Arthur opened it on and published a draft Bill with it. It asks how the price controls would work in practice and which shops and foods they would cover. Opening it was one of the government’s promises for its first hundred days.

Two days earlier, 23 business groups, including the Scottish Retail Consortium and the Food and Drink Federation Scotland, wrote to John Swinney asking him to drop the plan. They said a legal cap would not work against rising costs of production, refrigeration and transport.

The plan now has a Bill to carry it. The government’s programme for 2026-27, published the same day, names nine Bills, and the Food Prices (Scotland) Bill is one of them.

The limit comes from UK law. The Scottish Government says it has made a first check of how the plan fits with the United Kingdom Internal Market Act 2020, a UK law meant to keep trade open between the four nations. It says it will talk to the UK Government once the consultation ends.

The same Act caused problems for Scotland’s deposit return scheme and its ban on single-use plastics. Only a UK minister can grant an exception from it. So the order of events is a check, then a consultation, then talks with the UK, then a Bill.

Sources: Scottish Government (2), BBC

The Pattern

We found ten Scottish measures since 2012 that needed UK clearance. Each was passed by the Scottish Parliament, or sent to court before it was introduced. It could only work as passed if the UK Supreme Court found it within Holyrood’s powers, if no UK order blocked it under section 35 of the Scotland Act 1998, or if the UK granted an exception from the Internal Market Act. We asked whether it came through in full. The last eight are shown.

2 of 8
Two of the last eight Scottish measures that met a UK-level constraint came through in the form the Parliament passed them: the single-use plastics ban and the glue trap ban, both by Internal Market Act exclusions granted in full. Over the full record since 2012 it is three of ten, the third being minimum unit pricing after five years and a Supreme Court ruling. The other seven were struck down, narrowed on reconsideration, blocked at Royal Assent or, for the deposit return scheme, granted an exclusion that left out glass.
2026 Glue trap banheld
After the Scottish Government asked for the sale ban in the Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Act 2024 to be excluded from the market access principles, the UK Government agreed and made regulations on , in force . (legislation.gov.uk)
2023 Gender Recognition Billnot held
The Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill was stopped on by an order under section 35 of the Scotland Act 1998 prohibiting its submission for Royal Assent, the first such order made. (legislation.gov.uk)
Show the other 6 cases
2023 Deposit return schemenot held
On the UK Government agreed a temporary Internal Market Act exclusion for Scotland’s deposit return scheme but not for glass; the Scottish Government now gives a launch date of . (gov.uk, Scottish Deposit Return Scheme: UK internal market exclusion, 27 May 2023)
2022 Single-use plastics banheld
Scotland’s single-use plastics ban came into force on and the UK Government made an Internal Market Act exclusion on covering the banned items, with the consent of Scottish Ministers sought under section 10(9). (legislation.gov.uk)
2022 Independence referendum Billnot held
On the Supreme Court unanimously held that the proposed Scottish Independence Referendum Bill relates to the reserved matters of the Union and the UK Parliament, so the Bill could not be introduced without a section 30 order. (UK Supreme Court, Reference by the Lord Advocate, press summary 23 November 2022)
2021 UNCRC Billnot held
The UNCRC (Incorporation) (Scotland) Bill, passed , was held on to contain four sections outside competence; a reconsidered Bill passed on and received Royal Assent on . (Scottish Parliament)
2021 Local Self-Government Billnot held
The European Charter of Local Self-Government (Incorporation) (Scotland) Bill, passed , had sections 4(1A) and 5(1) held outside competence on ; the reconsidered Bill passed on and received Royal Assent on . (Scottish Parliament)
2018 EU Continuity Billnot held
The UK Withdrawal from the European Union (Legal Continuity) (Scotland) Bill, passed , was referred to the Supreme Court, which on held section 17 outside competence and other sections outside it because of the EU (Withdrawal) Act 2018; the Bill was withdrawn on . (Scottish Parliament)

The Read

History leans towards a clash with UK law. Six of the last eight Scottish measures that needed UK clearance were blocked, cut back or narrowed. Food prices touch the Internal Market Act more directly than gender recognition or children’s rights did. The closest case is the deposit return scheme, which got an exception from the Act but lost glass.

Timing is the weak point. The section 35 order, the court cases and the deposit return decision all came after the Scottish Parliament had passed something. This time there is only a consultation, closing on , and the Scottish Government says it will talk to the UK only after that. A UK minister has little reason to rule on a Bill that does not yet exist, and a written UK reply within a month is unlikely for the same reason. The two full exceptions on record, for plastics and glue traps, came late.

A UK minister’s statement on the Internal Market Act before the end of November would answer the question. If the consultation closes with no UK statement, the argument moves to 2027, for reasons of timing that this record does not measure.

Disclaimer

Hunch works only from sources that are publicly available, and publishes on the basis of analysis of that material. We do not form an editorial opinion or take sides, we give a simpler and wider view of news that already exists. If information in a source we used was inaccurate, distorted, or later disputed but had already entered our analysis, Hunch accepts no liability for that. Predictions are not advice. Phase 1 markets use Hunch Points, not money.

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