Christmas meal ‘will cost more this year’

THE average family faces shelling out an extra £143 for groceries over the next year, experts claim.

Number crunchers Kantar Worldpanel say prices have risen 3.4 per cent in the past 12 months – the sharpest gain since November 2013 – pushing up the cost of a typical shop by 62p to £18.26.

Data from the Office for National Statistics suggests prices are rising even faster now, at 4.2 per cent for food alone.

The jump has been fuelled by the weak pound since last year’s Brexit vote, driving up import costs.

The ONS data showed bread and per cent per cent,