LONDON: Britain’s annual inflation rate surged more than expected in April as energy and water bills rose sharply, official data showed Wednesday, causing the government to acknowledge that the country remained mired in a cost-of-living crisis.
The Consumer Prices Index soared to 3.5 percent last month, up from 2.6 percent in March, the Office for National Statistics said in a statement. Analysts’ consensus forecast had been for a jump to 3.3 percent.
At 3.5 percent, the headline rate was the highest since the beginning of 2024, the ONS noted.
“I am disappointed with these figures because I know cost-of-living pressures are still weighing down on working people,” finance minister Rachel Reeves said in a statement.
Later addressing parliament, Prime Minister Keir Starmer acknowledged that the UK population remained ensnared in a “cost-of-living crisis”, adding that more pensioners could be made eligible for payments towards winter fuel bills.
Faced with high government debt, Labour last year scrapped a winter-fuel benefit scheme for millions of pensioners, triggering an outcry by some of its own MPs.
“As the economy improves, we want to make sure people feel those improvements,” Starmer said on Wednesday.
He added that while the government would “only make decisions we can afford”, he was willing to look at changes to the fuel policy later in the year.
Kemi Badenoch, leader of the main opposition Conservatives, accused Starmer of a “U-turn” as the pair sparred during parliament’s weekly session reserved for MP questions directed at the prime
minister.
Regarding utility-sector inflation, UK regulators allowed private companies to hike household bills from April, taking into account movements in oil and gas markets and indebted water providers.
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