LONDON, Nov. 16 (U.S.): Britain’s inflation rate rose to a 41-year high in October, leading to demands from the government to do more to ease the country’s cost of living crisis when it released new tax and spending plans on Thursday.
The Office for National Statistics said Wednesday that consumer prices jumped 11.1% in the 12 months through October, compared with 10.1% in September. The new figure beat economists’ expectations of 10.7%, according to the Associated Press.
The ONS said rising food and energy prices pushed Britain’s inflation rate to its highest level since October 1981.
It exceeds the record inflation rate of 10.7% seen last month in 19 European countries that use the euro currency and the US rate of 7.7%, which slowed in October.
The figures come a day before Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt is due to unveil a new budget amid growing calls for higher wages, higher benefits and more spending on health and education as hyperinflation erodes people’s purchasing power.
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