Political opinion: Workers Party Representative calls for government action on food inflation

He said that people are complaining that each time they go to do the big weekly shop prices on the most basic items have increased sometimes by as much as 10%.

"People are struggling especially those who are on pensions, low paid or on other benefits. Even supermarkets own brands have become a luxury for some families.

"The Workers Party have been tracking the yearly reports of Multi -National food companies and each year their profit margins are growing significantly. It is time the government acted against these corporations and either impose a huge windfall tax on them, or introduced pricing legislation to protect consumers.

Mr Mullan said: "These big companies have been price gorging on the backs of consumers for too long, their excuses for price hikes are no longer believable. People are now dependent on food banks before pay day. Working class people spend their money in local communities. For every pound a worker earns, 60 pence of it is spent locally. They do not hoard money in banks or offshore accounts, they spend it in the local economy.

"It is time to regulate both prices and profit margins it is time to tax the greedy to feed the needy working people should be able to afford the basic necessities of life."