Inflation in Britain reached a 41-year high in October, fuelling calls for the government to take additional action to help the country's cost-of-living crisis when it presents new tax and spending proposals on Thursday.
Consumer prices rose 11.1% in the 12 months through October, compared with 10.1% in September, the Office for National Statistics said Wednesday. The October figure exceeded economists expectations of 10.7%.
According to the ONS, higher food and energy prices caused October's inflation rate to reach its highest level since October 1981.
The new data comes a day before Treasury chief Jeremy Hunt is scheduled to unveil a new budget amid growing calls for higher wages, increased benefits and more spending on health and education as raging inflation erodes the spending power of people across the country.
Those demands are complicating Hunt's efforts to close an estimated 50 billion-pound budget shortfall and restore the government's financial credibility after former Prime Minister Liz Truss's disastrous economic policies undermined investor confidence and sparked turmoil on financial markets.
The US inflation rate fell to 7.7% in October from 8.2% in September.
(To receive our E-paper on whatsapp daily, please click here. To receive it on Telegram, please click here. We permit sharing of the paper's PDF on WhatsApp and other social media platforms.)
