
The British Retail Consortium (BRC), which represents all major retailers, warned that after heavy Black Friday discounts, retailers will raise prices to deal with £7bn of increased costs from the Autumn Budget, with food prices to rise by an average of 4.2% in the second half of 2025.
Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the BRC, said: “Shop price deflation is likely to become a thing of the past.
“As retailers battle the £7bn of increased costs in 2025 from the Budget, including higher employer NI, National Living Wage, and new packaging levies, there is little hope of prices going anywhere but up.”
Brits battle food inflation
The news that food prices will rise will alarm households already dealing with rising costs. Figures from retail data firm Kantar earlier this week showed that food prices were rising by 3.7% in December, with the biggest rises occurring on products such as confectionery, juices and skincare.
Daisy Cooper MP, the Liberal Democrats’ Treasury spokesperson, said the news that they would rise again was a “hammer blow to families across the country”.

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“Millions of people are already having to choose between heating and eating and the prospect of even more pressure on stretched budgets will be incredibly worrying,” she added.
She called on the Treasury to scrap the planned hike in employer’s National Insurance to deal with the crisis.
Supermarkets report record Christmas spending
The BRC figures came as supermarket leader Tesco trumpeted its “biggest ever Christmas”, with sales up 4%, led by fresh food spending.
Chief executive Ken Murphy said the performance “reflects the investments we have made, positioning Tesco as the UK’s cheapest full-line grocer for over two years”.
Sainsbury’s also had an excellent Christmas, according to Kantar, claiming its largest share of the market since 2019.