Bradford supermarket giant Morrisons took top place in a battle of the shopping baskets, researched by consumer specialist Which? magazine.

And company chairman Ken Morrison pledged to stick to a tried and tested policy of cutting prices rather than offering a vast range of services.

A basket of 34 branded items cost Consumer Association's Which? magazine researchers £54.26 from Morrisons - the cheapest of the nine supermarkets tested.

Kwik Save's basket came in second cheapest at £54.57, with Asda in third place at £55.51. The branded products included quality goods, such as Kellogg's cornflakes, McVitie biscuits and Fairy washing-up liquid.

For a basket of the cheapest equivalent products - often supermarket own brand goods - Kwik Save offered best value at £34.94, with Morrisons in second place and 47p more expensive.

Mr Morrison, who opened his first supermarket in Girlington, Bradford, in 1961, said: "The results of this survey come as no surprise to us. As always, we continue to offer our shoppers outstanding value for money, giving customers instant reward for their loyalty at the check-out through consistently low prices.

"Many of our competitors are consistently increasing costs through the provision of extended shopping hours, additional supplementary services and loyalty cards schemes. It's our intention to stick to our tried and tested policy of low prices and outstanding value for money week after week."

The most expensive branded basket in the survey, which was conducted in eight branches of each supermarket earlier this year, came from Safeway, costing £59.32.

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