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The government has ditched reported plans to try to impose price caps on food in supermarkets.

But why were they even being considered?

Some would say they're a sensible measure given food inflation could soar this summer,

but others would call it insane economics.

And our supermarkets really gouging profits anyway?

Hello and welcome to Reality Check.

I'm Michael Simmons, the Spectator's Economics Editor.

Britain could be heading for a summer of really expensive food. Even if the Strait of Hormuz were to reopen right now, shipping companies have been pretty clear that they're not going to just start sailing on down again.

And that's got consequences, with the worst inflation forecast saying that food prices

could surge by 10 or 11% this summer. And our embattled government feels it has to act. And its

latest target is supermarkets. But it's not just supermarkets that are under attack. In an article

for The Times last week, Rachel Reeves talked about the scourge of price gouging,

and she said that she's instructed regulators to name and shame

the firms that are making an excess profit off the back of the Iran war.

But I think the Chancellor is being a bit cynical here.

She's taking advantage of the profit margin, the price-gouging myth.

The Institute of Economic Affairs carried out this really interesting poll.

They asked members of the public a simple question.

It was kind of a quiz.

They asked them to guess the profit margins of different sectors of the British economy.

...