The fall in inflation will be a “relief” to many but the Conservatives have put people through “hell and back”, Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner has said.
On Wednesday the latest figures showed inflation dropped to to 6.8% in the year to July from 7.9% in June.
Rishi Sunak has said there is now “light at the end of the tunnel” ahead of the fall.
The prime minister has promised to half inflation from its peak of 10.7% at the start of the year.
Rayner said today’s data would be “a relief for a lot of people” but warned “there’s a cost of living (crisis) and prices are still going up but at a slower rate”.
“We’ve seen families see their bills going up significantly – over £300 a month – and it has been really difficult for people over the last couple of years, and we’ve had 13 years of economic chaos by the Conservatives,” she told BBC Radio 4′s Today programme.
“People have been put through hell and back and they’re still going to be facing this cost-of-living crisis for some time to come.”
She added: “The frustration for us in Labour is that we didn’t have to be here.
“The Tories crashed the economy, they haven’t provided us with an economy that has been growing, we’ve had a decade of low growth, low pay and high taxes.”
An analysis by Labour showed monthly bills for the average household have risen by £350 since 2021/22.
The party said Office for National Statistics (ONS) data showed weekly spending on goods and services, such as food, transport and fuel bills, is forecast to have risen from £529 in 2021/22 to £611 today.