Sausage has a lead roll in cost of living

It replaces pork pie as inflation yardstick

SAUSAGE rolls have taken over from pork pies on the list of foods that measure our cost of living.

The snack joins others including Cornish pasties and quiches used by the Office for National Statistics as an inflation barometer.

And the typical 2018 shopping basket now includes women’s “athleisure” leggings, raspberries and GoPro-style action cameras.

But out go items such as Edam cheese, peaches and bottles of lager. The camcorder has also been ditched as smartphones with cameras have taken over.

The ONS said pork pies have been replaced by more popular snacks such as “sausage rolls, mini-Cornish pasties and scotch eggs”.

It added: “The basket of goods helps measure the changing cost of products and services over time, updated annually to reflect consumer behaviour and showing the changing tastes and habits of the UK.

“The rise of the smartphone means digital camcorders no longer feature in the basket.”