Supermarket scrooges steal Christmas cheer as one in three shoppers hit by shrinkflation

EMBARGO: 22:30 Tuesday 23rd December 

Shock polling commissioned by the Liberal Democrats shows that over one in three (36%) people have noticed Christmas food shrink in size this year. This comes as many households across the country are already struggling with a cost of living permacrisis.

Older adults are more likely to have noticed the decrease in size of most Christmas products as opposed to their younger counterparts.

Among the 36% of people who think the size and/or quantity of Christmas food products have got smaller, four in five (82%) say they notice this in the size of chocolate bars or tubs of chocolates. Six in ten (61%) say they think Christmas crisps or snacks have got smaller, with over half saying the same about biscuits (55%) and Christmas party food (51%).

The Liberal Democrats are calling for the end to big supermarket scrooges by asking the Government to change the law, so that large supermarkets are forced to tell their customers if the products they are buying have decreased in size despite prices going up.

This comes as earlier in the year, shoppers also expressed fury and frustration towards Cadbury for the shrinkflation of Easter eggs. The Guardian also recently reported that a Terry’s Chocolate Orange weighs 12g less than it did this time last year, while costing  81% more than in 2022.

The South East noticed the highest amount of shrinking, with 47% of people seeing Christmas products depleting in size since last year. This is followed by Wales (43%) and the East (40%).

Liberal Democrat Treasury Spokesperson, Daisy Cooper MP said:

"The days of Dickensian Britain may be past - but big supermarkets are still acting like Scrooge.

"To learn that one in three people have seen their Christmas food get smaller, while prices continue to climb, is an insult to every person struggling to make ends meet. The festive cheer is being literally shrunk out of our shopping baskets, and our wallets.

"The Government must stop sitting on its hands while this 'shrinkflation' scourge quietly squeezes households. We need to expose this practice by legally requiring big supermarkets to inform shoppers when product sizes are reduced despite prices rising.”

ENDS

Notes to Editors:

Guardian reporting on the price of Chocolate Orange can be found here.

Please see polling material here:

Methodology: Savanta interviewed 2,138 UK adults online between 12th and 15th December 2025. Data were weighted to be representative of the UK by age, sex, region, and social grade.