Morrisons slashes more prices by up to 41pc

The beleaguered supermarket will cut the costs of named and own-brand products, including peeled plum tomatoes and crinkle-cut oven chips, as it turns up the heat on its competitors.

“This is another major price reduction programme,” Dalton Philips, chief executive of Morrisons, said.

The price war announcement, which aimed to combat the rise of discounters like Lidl and Aldi, wiped almost £3bn off the values of Britain’s biggest food retailers.

“The weakness of all price cut announcements is that they make customers wonder why the prices were so high before,” Nick Bubb, a retail analyst, said. “It all looks bit defensive.”

Last week, Morrisons announced plans to cut 2,600 jobs at its stores in a cost-slashing drive after the supermarket reported a 7.1pc drop in sales during the first quarter of 2014.

Sir Ken Morrison, the company’s founder, said that the job losses were “very disappointing”

more