Don’t let this inflation peak lull you into a false sense of security

With wage rises continuing to undershoot inflation, the cost of living crisis is far from over, writes James Moore

Food prices are still through the roof and wages aren’t going up anytime soon (PA)

Could this really be the beginning of the end of Britain’s national inflation nightmare?

November’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) came in at 10.7 per cent. That was down on the previous month’s 11.1 per cent and below the consensus City forecast of 10.9 per cent.

The initial driver for the continuing surge in prices was, as we are all too painfully aware, energy. But at some point, the sudden spike in prices that followed Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine was bound to wash through the system. For CPI inflation to continue in double figures you would need a second spike of a roughly similar magnitude and that hasn’t happened.