Morrisons was the first of Tesco’s competitors to move, announcing it would return £274m worth of relief last night. Sainsbury’s followed suit in a note to the City this morning, announcing it would hand back £440m in relief. 

In their statements, both Sainsbury’s and Morrisons claimed to have been considering handing back the relief for some time, but both grocers appear to have had their hands forced by Tesco’s announcement yesterday morning. 

Between the three grocers, they have now committed to handing back some £1.3bn in tax breaks.