What matters: food or free markets?

Most people think the next economic crisis will begin when shortages become obvious and prices start soaring. I disagree. The battle over the next economic crisis has already begun, and what worries me most is not the shortages themselves. It is the growing resistance to doing anything effective about them. After appearing on BBC Radio Five Live to discuss Rachel Reeves’ proposed food price cap, I came away convinced that many people still believe markets can solve every problem. Faced with shortages of food, fuel or energy, their answer remains the same: let competition work, let prices rise and let markets adjust. But what happens when people cannot afford those prices? Markets can ration food by price. They can ration fuel by price. They can ration energy by price. What they cannot do is guarantee that everyone gets access to essential goods when shortages emerge. That is the issue we need to confront. In this video, I explain why I think Britain faces the risk of a genuine supply crisis, why free-market dogma could make that crisis much worse, and why the opposition to intervention is already organising itself. Calls for rationing, market support, public provision or emergency government action are already being dismissed as socialist or statist. The real question is simple. When shortages arrive, should access to food, fuel and energy depend upon the ability to pay, or should the government act to ensure everyone gets what they need? I argue that food, fuel and energy must be treated as public goods in a crisis. The alternative is rising hardship, growing anger and potentially serious social unrest. The crisis may still be ahead of us. The fight over how we respond to it has already begun.