Tories will still leave households worse off despite potential inflation slowdown, says Labour

Labour accuses PM of overseeing a £350 increase in monthly bills for the average household

Labour said families have been left worse off due to inflation, ahead of the release of new ONS figures (Jacob King/PA) (PA Wire)

The Tories will still have left households significantly worse off even if official figures this week confirm a slowdown in inflation, Labour has said.

It comes as the Office for National Statistics (ONS) is expected to reveal Consumer Prices Index (CPI) inflation of 6.7 per cent for July, down from 7.9 per cent in the previous month.

Rishi Sunak on Tuesday claimed that there is “light at the end of the tunnel”, but Labour accused the Prime Minister of overseeing a £350 increase in monthly bills for the average household since 2021/22.

Ahead of the release of the July data, the opposition said that even if inflation does drop families will be paying £82 more a week on the cost of living than in 2021/22.

We’ve had a decade of low growth, low pay and high taxes. Now families are paying the price of the Conservatives’ cost-of-living crisis with higher bills and prices in the shops

Tulip Siddiq

The party said weekly spending on items such as food, transport and fuel bills is forecast to have risen from £529 in 2021/22 to £611 today.

Labour said that even if Mr Sunak meets his target to halve inflation, families will still be hundreds of pounds worse off a month than two years ago.

Shadow economic secretary Tulip Siddiq said: “Families in Britain are worse off because of 13 years of economic chaos and incompetence under the Conservatives.

“We’ve had a decade of low growth, low pay and high taxes. Now families are paying the price of the Conservatives’ cost-of-living crisis with higher bills and prices in the shops.

“If Labour were in power today, we would introduce a proper windfall tax on the huge profits the oil and gas giants are making to help families with the cost of living.

“Labour’s plan to build a strong economy will boost growth, increase wages and bring down bills so working people are better off.”