The supermarket has committed £100m to lowering the prices of more than 300 own brand items which includes goods such as Fairtrade tea, butter, pork sausages and frozen peas.

Nearly one third of the items in the Essential Waitrose range, the supermarket’s lowest priced own brand range, have been reduced by on average 14%. Goods in the range are bought by nearly seven in 10 Waitrose customers.

Reductions include: British roast ham slices (80g) cut from £1.50 to £1, mature British cheddar (160g) down from £2.10 to £1.50, 1kg bag of carrots down from 60p to 50p and eight British pork sausages cut from £2.65 to £2.

The cost of food has continued to rise at a fast pace than the price of anything else with food inflation rising by 16.7% in January (including non-alcoholic drinks), according to the Office for National Statistics. Excluding non-alcoholic drinks, food inflation is at a 45-year high.

Waitrose: Value for money never more important

James Bailey, executive director for Waitrose, said: “We understand that getting value for money has never been more important for everyone. So we’re cutting the prices of hundreds of everyday favourites. The price cuts include a range of British products from vegetables to ham and cheese.

“Supporting our farmers is as important as supporting our customers. Last year alone, we paid our British beef, chicken, egg, milk, poultry and salmon farmers an additional £56m as a result of the increase in costs they were facing.”