Food, energy and transport are becoming “unaffordable luxuries” as inflation hit a fresh 30-year high, it was claimed today.
Official figures revealed that Consumer Prices Index (CPI) inflation reached 5.5 per cent in January, up from 5.4 per cent in December - the highest level since March 1992, when it stood at 7.1 per cent.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the cost of clothes and footwear pushed inflation higher last month.
As Britain’s cost of living crisis worsens, sky-high energy costs are expected to drive up CPI further to as much as 7.25 per cent in April.
Trade union Unison said January’s inflation data was the “stuff of nightmares”.
General secretary Christina McAnea said: “Households already feeling the pinch will be aghast at this latest hike in living costs.
“For many low and middle earners, food, energy and transport are quickly becoming unaffordable luxuries.”
Karen Betts, chief exec of the Food and Drink Federation, said rising costs were “worrying” particularly for lower income households.
Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves tweeted: “Food. Petrol. Energy. We’re all feeling it. This isn’t just a global problem. The Tories have failed to get a grip and working people are paying the price.”
Lib Dem MP Christine Jardine said ministers must give families a “lifeline” by providing further help with energy bills and scrapping the “unfair” national insurance tax rise.
“People are worried about heating their homes and putting food on the table, yet all we’ve seen from this government is half measures and a raft of tax hikes in April,” she said.
The situation is expected to worsen this April when Ofgem increases its annual energy price cap by nearly £700 and the government introduces its national insurance rise.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak has so far resisted growing calls for his tax rise to be postponed, instead offering support including a state-funded £200 discount on energy bills in October, which households will eventually have to repay.
“We understand the pressures people are facing with the cost of living,” Sunak said.
“These are global challenges but we have listened to people’s concerns and recently stepped in to provide millions of households with up to £350 to help with rising energy bills.”
Wages are also failing to keep up with inflation, rising by 4.3 per cent in the most recent quarter, and interest rate increases will heap further pressure on households.