The government has agreed to implement a plan intended to reduce the cost of buying baby formula, Keir Starmer has said.
The announcement comes ahead of the release of the government’s child poverty strategy later in the week and follows the removal of the two-child limit for benefits in last week’s budget, a move Starmer referred to several times during PMQs on Wednesday.
Ministers will accept a series of recommendations made in February by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) intended to help inform parents about baby formula products that are cheaper than the best-known brands, such as nutritionally identical supermarket own-brand ones.
The measures will include rules setting out that all infant formula products must be displayed together in shops.
People will also be allowed to use gift cards, vouchers, loyalty points and coupons to pay for infant formula, something that has been barred in the past because of efforts to prevent deals for baby formula and encourage breastfeeding instead where possible.
However, some CMA recommendations were rejected, such as the use of standardised packaging in hospitals and other healthcare locations to stop the influence of marketing on new parents.
Starmer said the measures could save parents up to £500 in the first year of a child’s life. “For too long, parents have been pushed into spending more on infant formula than needed – told they’re paying for better quality and left hundreds of pounds out of pocket,” he said. “I can announce today we are changing that. We will take action to give parents and carers the confidence to access infant formula at more affordable prices.”
Starmer linked the move to the end of the two-child benefit limit, a policy he repeatedly highlighted in exchanges with Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative leader.
Challenged by Badenoch over the move, Starmer said: “Their policy of nearly 10 years on the two-child benefit cap had one result and one result only – it dragged hundreds of thousands of children into poverty. They should be utterly ashamed of that, and I’m very proud that we’re lifting half a million children out of poverty, because I profoundly believe that every child should have a chance in life.”
In a later announcement setting out details of the baby formula plan, Wes Streeting, the health secretary, said: “It’s not right that manufacturers have been able to package up these products in a way that plays on the instincts of new mums and dads who are just trying to do what’s right for their child.
“These new measures mean parents will have confidence in the formula they are buying, no matter the price, and can now make the most of supermarket loyalty schemes, too.”
