Sajid Javid boasts Tories helping hard-working families as inflation hits three year low

Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) was 1.7 percent last month, compared with 2.1 percent in July, representing the lowest rate of inflation since November 2016. The fall was steeper than analysts predicted, having forecast inflation of 1.9 percent.

Bragging the latest data was more evidence of the Tories’ economic record, Mr Javid said: “Low inflation and high wage growth means people’s hard-earned cash is going further, helping them to provide for their families.

“We’re helping with the cost of living by cutting taxes for more than 30 million people and ensuring that almost a million of our dedicated public-sector workers – including our soldiers, teachers and doctors – get above-inflation pay increases.”

The slow down in inflation was mainly caused by plummeting prices in games and toys and the price of hobbies.

Prices for recreation and culture were 0.6 percent down against the previous month.

Mike Hardie, head of inflation at the ONS, said: “The inflation rate has fallen noticeably into August, to its lowest since late 2016.

“This was mainly driven by a decrease in computer game prices, plus clothing prices rising by less than last year after the end of the summer sales.”

The Retail Prices Index (RPI), another measure of inflation, dipped to 2.6 percent for August from 2.8 percent in July.

The CPI including owner-occupiers’ housing costs (CPIH) – the ONS’s preferred measure of inflation – was 1.7 percent in August, from 2 percent in July.

READ MORE: How PM Corbyn plans to ‘steal’ YOUR money

The Retail Prices Index (RPI), another measure of inflation, dipped to 2.6 percent for August from 2.8 percent in July.

The CPI including owner-occupiers’ housing costs (CPIH) – the ONS’s preferred measure of inflation – was 1.7 percent in August, from 2 percent in July.

Emma-Lou Montgomery, associate director for personal investing at Fidelity International, said: “There was further good news on the consumer front this morning as the latest CPI figures revealed a noticeable fall in inflation to 1.7 percent – well below the Bank of England’s target of 2 percent, and the previous month’s 2.1 percent.

“When you add into the mix last week’s news that UK wages rose at their fastest rate for 11 years and combine that with unemployment being at a 45-year low, it would appear that despite all the doom and gloom, consumers are looking pretty comfortable right now.

DON’T MISS:

Value of flats is crashing after Brexit – house prices decreasing [INSIGHT]
We really have never had it so good, says LEO McKINSTRY [OPINION]
Pound to euro exchange rate: Stability of British currency threatened [LATEST]

“However, while at face value today’s inflation data may appear to be further welcome news, it may also ring alarm bells, as further evidence of a weakening economy amid the ongoing Brexit uncertainty.”

However, despite the inflation data indicating more families could see their pound stretch further, John McDonnell, Labour’s shadow chancellor, claimed the figures were a damning indictment on the Government.

He said: “On the day we discover that living standards are still below where they were before the crash, these figures are yet another sign of the damage done by Tory mismanagement of Brexit and the wider economy.”

source: express.co.uk