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The UK consumer price index stood at 10.1% annually in September, compared to 9.9% in August, thus remaining at the highest level in 40 years, according to the Office for National Statistics .
UK food prices rose last month at the fastest pace since 1980 and pushed inflation to the highest prices in 40 years, adding pressure to the government to settle the books without cutting welfare aid.
In total, prices increased 14.6% in the year to September, as products such as meat, bread, milk and eggs rose sharply, the Office for National Statistics reported Oct. 19. Annual inflation in the UK is now 10.1%, the highest since early 1982.
Treasury chief Jeremy Hunt scrapped a major aid package that unsettled markets after taking office last week and warned it would be a “difficult” winter and that spending needs to be cut.
Glenn Sanderson, principal of St. Aidan’s Catholic Academy in Sunderland, said schools across the country are struggling to feed children in need, shifting money intended for books and maintenance to subsidize meal programmes. The suggestion of government budget cuts in this environment is “appalling,” he said.
“Parents are having to make tough decisions: do they pay the bus fare to send their child to education or do they use that money to feed them?” Sanderson told the BBC. “In today’s society, I find it completely unacceptable,” she closed.
Prime Minister Liz Truss repeated an earlier pledge to raise pensions in line with inflation.
The war in Ukraine has sent food and energy prices skyrocketing around the world, disrupting shipments of natural gas, grain and cooking oil. This was combined with the price increase that began last year, when the world economy began to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic.
In the United Kingdom, transport costs also increased by 10.9%, furniture and household goods rose by 10.8%, clothing by 8.4% and housing by 9.3%, increases driven by the increase in energy price.
The Government tries to protect consumers from the impact of rising energy prices by limiting the cost of electricity and natural gas. But Hunt lowered the price cap to six months, instead of the two years initially promised.
with AP
