THE maker of the famous Killie pie fears people may stop buying rolls, cakes and tattie scones as prices soar and energy bills threaten to become crippling for households.
Matthew Short (below, left), director of Kilmarnock bakery Brownings, said his firm was currently coping with soaring energy prices but warned the businesses’ costs would shoot up by £2 million from October.
SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford joined Kilmarnock MP Alan Brown – also the party’s energy spokesman, on a visit to the bakery on Friday, where they heard of the punishing effects the cost-of-living crisis was having on businesses.
Brown said the bakery was “synonymous” with the Ayrshire town.
Short said: “If we did well, in a good year, we’d make 7-8% [profit].
“All we’ve ever tried to do is reinvest what we make, so that we can put capacity in, so that we can ensure employment.”
I visited the home of the Killie pie today where @Ianblackford_MP heard of the extreme pressures facing businesses because of soaring fuel prices @BrowningsBakers pic.twitter.com/lM31YBRl0z
— Hamish Morrison (@HMorrison97) August 26, 2022
Currently, shoppers are still buying Brownings’ products from shops, said Short.
“Demand isn’t a problem, the worry is that it becomes a problem somewhere down the road because people can’t afford to eat.
“But if they can’t afford to eat rolls and tattie scones then the country’s in a pretty poor place, isn’t it?”
The MPs’ visit, which included a tour of the bakery where Blackford and Brown were shown how pancakes, scones and tattie scones were made, came on the same day Ofgem announced yet another devastating rise in energy bills.
The energy regulator itself described the rise as “very worrying” for families, as it announced on Friday the yearly cost of heating and lighting the average house would jump from £1971 to £3549 from October, a rise of just over 80%.
The SNP have demanded urgent action from Westminster over rising fuel costs – which are worse for businesses who are not protected by the Ofgem price cap and can be charged as much as energy suppliers like.
Blackford has said parliament must return early from its summer break so politicians can begin discussing what extra measures to take to protect people from soaring rates.
He backed introducing a price cap for businesses so they would also be protected from rising prices, saying if the Government did not do so “businesses are going to go to the wall”.
The price cap rise “simply cannot go ahead”, said Blackford, warning it could “bake in” problems being experienced now in the “medium to long term”.
The Tories have been accused of being “missing in action” during the crisis, with the Prime Minister taking two summer holidays in August, while Liz Truss, the candidate likely to succeed him, has only pledged to cut taxes in a move the SNP have said will not stop “plunging millions more into poverty and destitution”.
The power to scrap the cap lies with Westminster and Brown said the Tories were the ones with “the responsibility to act”.
He added: "Parliament must be recalled immediately to freeze the price cap and deliver pandemic levels of support, including scrapping VAT on fuel, doubling help for households, and introducing an energy price cap and grants for small businesses.”
