Urgent warning as cost of weekly shop set to SOAR in months as inflation ‘almost doubles under Labour'
BILLS MISERY Urgent warning as cost of weekly shop set to SOAR in months as inflation 'almost doubles under Labour'
THE cost of the weekly shop will spiral as food inflation climbs to six per cent by the end of 2025, families are being warned.
Retailers have been forced to increase prices owing to higher wage costs after the rise in National Insurance.
Sir Keir Starmer has focused on living standards — but research by the British Retail Consortium suggests families will pay as grocery prices continue to surge.
Food inflation in July was up to four per cent after the sixth monthly rise in a row — driven largely by meat and tea.
Finance bosses surveyed by the BRC are saying it will go higher.
Helen Dickinson, boss at the BRC, said: 'Retailers doing everything they can to shield consumers from the worst of the inflationary pressures.
'However, with £7 billion in additional costs from the last Budget still filtering through, rising inflation is becoming inevitable.
'If the Government loads even more costs onto retail at the next Budget, we could see food inflation surpassing even this 6% prediction, and it will be hardworking families who pay the price through higher prices for food and other essentials.'
Tory Shadow Chancellor Mel Stride said: 'The cost of tax rises is being passed on to households.'
The Treasury said: 'We are determined to put more money into people's pockets.
"We've expanded free school meals and boosted the minimum wage.'
No one believes Labour are really putting money in people's pockets so they need to stop lying about it
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'It's the last shot for me. I actually think in the view of an increasing number of people it's the last shot for the country.' That Farage's health has become a source of discussion in Westminster is perhaps unsurprising. With Farage at the helm, Reform UK is a genuine threat to the established political order. Without him, his critics believe, his nascent party would collapse. He is, they say, a one-man band. Farage appears to be acutely aware that he is potentially a single point of failure. He is trying to promote those around him, particularly Zia Yusuf, who has emerged as one of the party's main spokesmen. His aim is to ensure that Reform UK is not synonymous with his personal brand but recognised in its own right. 'I'm very keen to promote others,' he said. 'I don't want the crime campaign just to be me. It's about the brand Reform itself, standing on its own two feet. We are getting there. People say to me in the street now, 'I think I'm a Reformer'.' 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But generally speaking, the one who cuts taxes the most, the one who gives you the lowest energy prices, the best kind of energy, the one that keeps you out of wars … a few basics.' The headlines were, inevitably, about the fact that the president had offered Starmer unsolicited advice that he needed to cut taxes and stop the boats. But of arguably far greater significance was Trump's acceptance of the premise of the question: that the next election would be a battle between Starmer and Farage. Badenoch and the Tories were not even part of the conversation. The Tory leader did not have a meeting with Trump at his Turnberry golf course but is expected to meet him during his state visit. But the challenge for Badenoch is that Labour and Reform are both intent on squeezing the Tories out of the picture. Sticking to the script Labour is drawing up plans for its conference, and Reform is likely to feature heavily. 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The election result was even worse for him than had been expected. The murmurings of discontent are growing louder. One senior Labour source said that 'you can't out-Reform Reform' by going tough on issues such as immigration — it doesn't wash with voters. The other fear is that giving Farage a platform and painting the idea that he could become prime minister risks becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy — that he might just do it.
