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The prime minister has said it is “sad” that parents are watering down baby formula because they cannot afford to feed their children.

Sky News reported last year on measures parents have turned to after inflation spiked the cost of the powdered milk product.

This included watering down and even stealing products in order to make ends meet amid the cost of living crisis.

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Asked about the situation parents have found themselves in, Rishi Sunak told the BBC: “My job is to make sure everyone has the financial security that they want for them and their families.

“And of course, I’m sad to hear that someone’s in that situation.”

He added: “Of course it’s sad if someone’s got a little one in their lives and they’re having to do that. That’s an incredibly sad thing.

“But my job is to make sure that we can ease those pressures, and actually, if you look at what was causing those pressures, it was inflation: inflation being at 11%, prices going up by that much every year, it was a real struggle for people.

“That’s why it was important that we prioritised bringing inflation down. It is now coming down. That is real, that will have an impact on people because it will start to ease some of those pressures.”

Britain's Prime Minister Rishi Sunak gestures as he meets with Belgium's Prime Minister Alexander De Croo at Downing Street, London, Britain, January 23, 2024. REUTERS/Hannah McKay/Pool
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Sunak has said it is ‘sad’ parents had to dilute the sustenance. Pic: Reuters

Inflation was still at 4% at the end of 2023, meaning prices were still rising above the Bank of England’s 2% target.

In order to reduce price growth, the Bank – which is independent of the government – has raised interest rates, putting up the cost of borrowing for consumers on loans and mortgages – also leading to increased rents.

At the time of Sky’s reporting in summer 2023, the price of the cheapest brand of baby formula had increased by 45% in the previous two years.

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Other brands have risen between 17% and 31% in that time period.

Regulations state that all baby formulas must meet the same standards – so the cheapest brand will provide all the same necessary nutrition as the most expensive.

As well as watering down their products, Sky News also spoke to parents who had stolen formula, bought it on the black market or substituted it with condensed milk.

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‘Are families being exploited? Yes’

World Health Organisation technical officer Laurence Grummer-Strawn previously told Sky News that companies were “exploiting” people in a “very vulnerable situation” in order to “increase the profits of these companies, and they have huge profit margins”.

He called for the government to intervene “either on the price end or in ways to help those families directly”.

“Lowering the prices can help these families, but it needs to be in a sustainable way,” he added.

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Why Boris’s best mate is off to Reform

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Why Boris's best mate is off to Reform

👉Listen to Politics at Sam and Anne’s on your podcast app👈       

Former Conservative chairman and friend of Boris Johnson – Sir Jake Berry – is defecting to Reform UK, causing more problems for Tory leader Kemi Badenoch.

On today’s episode, Sky News’ Sam Coates and Politico’s Anne McElvoy discuss if his defection will divide parts of Reform policy.

Elsewhere, the Anglo-French summit gets under way, with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer hoping to announce a migration deal with French President Emmanuel Macron to deter small boat crossings.

Plus, chatter around Whitehall that No10 are considering a pre-summer reshuffle, but will it have any value?

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Australia to test CBDCs, stablecoins in next stage of crypto play

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Australia to test CBDCs, stablecoins in next stage of crypto play

Australia to test CBDCs, stablecoins in next stage of crypto play

The trial is part of Project Acacia, an initiative from the RBA exploring how digital money and tokenization could support financial markets in Australia.

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Starmer and Macron agree need for ‘new deterrent’ to stop small boat crossings

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Starmer and Macron agree need for 'new deterrent' to stop small boat crossings

Sir Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron have agreed the need for a “new deterrent” to deter small boats crossings in the Channel, Downing Street has said.

The prime minister met Mr Macron this afternoon as part of the French president’s state visit to the UK, which began on Tuesday.

High up the agenda for the two leaders is the need to tackle small boat crossings in the Channel, which Mr Macron said yesterday was a “burden” for both the UK and France.

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The small boats crisis is a pressing issue for the prime minister, given that more than 20,000 migrants crossed the English Channel to the UK in the first six months of this year – a rise of almost 50% on the number crossing in 2024.

Sir Keir is hoping he can reach a deal for a one-in one-out return treaty with France, ahead of the UK-France summit on Thursday, which will involve ministerial teams from both nations.

The deal would see those crossing the Channel illegally sent back to France in exchange for Britain taking in any asylum seeker with a family connection in the UK.

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However, it is understood the deal is still in the balance, with some EU countries unhappy about France and the UK agreeing on a bilateral deal.

French newspaper Le Monde reports that up to 50 small boat migrants could be sent back to France each week, starting from August, as part of an agreement between Sir Keir and Mr Macron.

A statement from Downing Street said: “The prime minister met the French President Emmanuel Macron in Downing Street this afternoon.

“They reflected on the state visit of the president so far, agreeing that it had been an important representation of the deep ties between our two countries.

“Moving on to discuss joint working, they shared their desire to deepen our partnership further – from joint leadership in support of Ukraine to strengthening our defence collaboration and increasing bilateral trade and investment.”

It added: “The leaders agreed tackling the threat of irregular migration and small boat crossings is a shared priority that requires shared solutions.

“The prime minister spoke of his government’s toughening of the system in the past year to ensure rules are respected and enforced, including a massive surge in illegal working arrests to end the false promise of jobs that are used to sell spaces on boats.

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“The two leaders agreed on the need to go further and make progress on new and innovative solutions, including a new deterrent to break the business model of these gangs.”

Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, seized on the statement to criticise Labour for scrapping the Conservatives’ Rwanda plan, which the Tories claim would have sent asylum seekers “entering the UK illegally” to Rwanda.

He said in an online post: “We had a deterrent ready to go, where every single illegal immigrant arriving over the Channel would be sent to Rwanda.

“But Starmer cancelled this before it had a chance to start.

“Now, a year later, he’s realised he made a massive mistake. That’s why numbers have surged and this year so far has been the worst in history for illegal channel crossings.

“Starmer is weak and incompetent and he’s lost control of our borders.”

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