Relief for families as inflation falls

PRICES are rising at the slowest pace for a year, figures showed yesterday.

Just a day after it was revealed that wages are up .8 per cent, the Office for National Statistics said inflation fell to .5 per cent last month – another sign the squeeze on family finances is finally over.

It was the lowest rate since March last year and down from .7 per cent in February and 3 per cent in January. As the report confirmed living standards are rising again for millions, Chancellor Philip Hammond said Britain’s economic recovery was gathering steam with the Government’s ‘balanced approach’.

He added: ‘Thanks to the hard work of the British people, our economy is at a turning point.’

Alistair Wilson, a strategist at savings group Zurich, said: ‘Households can breathe a sigh of relief.’

The fall in inflation casts doubt over whether the Bank of England will raise interest rates next month.