John McDonnell calls for strict price controls on fuel and food basics

theguardian.com:

The government should impose strict price controls on fuel and basic food items to help families struggling with soaring living costs, the former Labour shadow chancellor John McDonnell has said.

Calling for a radical response to the worst cost of living crisis in a generation, McDonnell said the government needed to take urgent steps to limit the impact from soaring inflationary pressures on workers and their families.

He said controlling prices was vital to reduce inflation, in an open letter backed by 12 leftwing economists, academics, and activists. They include the author Naomi Klein, the economist Ann Pettifor, who correctly predicted the 2007-08 financial crisis, and the social geographer Prof Danny Dorling.

McDonnell said: “At a time of economic crisis, it is time to think big and be radical in restructuring our economy so that never again do people endure a decade or more of falling real wages and rising poverty whilst the threat of climate crisis grows ever more pressing.”

The intervention comes as the government faces heavy criticism over its handling of the cost of living crisis, while also reflecting mounting frustrations among the Labour left and divisions within the party over Keir Starmer’s response.

The Labour leader angered the leftwing of his party by ordering his MPs not to join picket lines during last month’s rail strikes. He has also faced criticism for a perceived lack of ideas and second-guessing public opinion.

The open letter came as Starmer prepared to deliver a speech on how a Labour government would “make Brexit work”.

Drawing up a list of seven economic interventions to tackle the crisis, McDonnell said price controls could be used to regulate rents, energy prices, fuel and basic foodstuffs to