A 30% increase in airfares in July pushed inflation to its highest level since January 2024.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said overall prices in July were up by 3.8%, due mainly to the higher cost of flights.
ONS Chief Economist Grant Fitzner said the 30% rise in fares between June and July was the biggest jump for that period since it began collecting monthly data in 2001.
However, he said the increase was ‘likely due to the timing of this year’s school holidays’. This year, the ONS data collection day overlapped with the start of the school holidays, whereas last year it occurred before schools broke up.
A rise in the cost of eating out, as well as a 5% increase in food and non-alcoholic beverages also contributed to the rise of inflation beyond the Bank of England’s target of 2%.
Coffee, fresh orange juice, meat, and chocolate saw the biggest price rises. Chancellor Rachel Reeves said there was ‘more to do to ease the cost of living’.
“We have taken the decisions needed to stabilise the public finances, and we’re a long way from the double-digit inflation we saw under the previous government, but there’s more to do to ease the cost of living,” she said.
