Prices in the UK have bounced up again.
It can make managing our bills feel a
bit scary.
>> Obviously, six weeks holiday is very
expensive. Um, it's cost a lot of money
to take them out. We've
>> had some nice days out, but it's cost a
lot. Even a bag of shopping, your ball
count is 30 quid.
>> And families have been noticing it in
different areas.
Transport was the biggest factor driving
up overall inflation last month. The ONS
said there was a hefty rise in flight
prices as families booked trips for the
summer holidays. Food helped push prices
up too with beef and chocolate seeing
sharp increases.
And the measure of inflation the
government normally uses to determine
the rise in regulated rail fars went up
to 4.8%.
Although it won't confirm how much
they'll go up today, families and firms
are already worried about the track
inflation is on. So consumer confidence
is you know at a pretty low eb. People
are concerned about the outlook uh and
therefore they are really managing their
budgets quite tightly.
>> While inflation hit 11% at the end of
2022 it had slowed to just 2% last
summer. But in the 12 months to July it
rose by more than expected.
It stands at almost double the Bank of
England's target and could explain why
it hasn't cut rates as quickly as those
with mortgages might like. The
government has acknowledged the latest
figures could be disappointing.
>> Well, price rises are disappointing for
everybody. We've seen energy prices come
down in July, but they're still too
high. That's why it's so important that
we keep easing the cost of living, keep
acting on that.
It adds further pressure on a government
who promised to make life better for
families who are already feeling it
themselves. Laura Jones, ITV News.
>> You come to a place like this fuel
station and it tells you just as much
about the rising cost of living as those
official inflation statistics. In July
on average, petrol was up 2p a liter
with diesel 3p a liter. And then we
cross over to food. Another big concern
coming from today's figures, they on
average are up around 5%. And again,
it's the unavoidable basics that are
rising the most. It's things like tea,
coffee, sugar, beef, chicken, all things
that people really can't dodge when it
comes to the weekly shop. But perhaps
the longestterm impact of today's
inflation statistics could be the fact
that it might reduce the chance of
interest rates coming down more later in
the year. Talking about that, we spoke
earlier to an economist Jonathan Haskell
who was formerly part of the Bank of
England team. uh it's made the chances I
think much less of mortgage rate cuts
and the reason is that the Bank of
England are looking at what the
underlying rate of inflation is and they
will look very hard when they sit down
around the table and look at these
numbers at food prices. Now they're
expecting food inflation of 4.7% and it
actually came in at 4.9% and that'll be
a source of great concern to the policy
makers.
>> So what are the consumer tips? What can
you do about all of this? because it's
quite natural to feel pretty helpless.
What consumer campaigners are saying
today is shop around. It's an old
message, but now it goes far beyond
groceries. We're talking about energy,
broadband, the lot. Remember, loyalty
rarely pays. If necessary, vote with
your feet.