BRITAIN, May 24: Britain's annual inflation rate fell sharply to an eight-month low of 8.7 percent in April with energy prices much weaker than a year earlier, official data revealed Wednesday.
BRITAIN, May 24: Britain's annual inflation rate fell sharply to an eight-month low of 8.7 percent in April with energy prices much weaker than a year earlier, official data revealed Wednesday.
Oct 25: Rishi Sunak is poised to become the UK's youngest prime minister for more than 200 years.
At 42, he is the same age Earl of Liverpool Robert Banks Jenkinson was when he came to office in 1812. Since then, David Cameron, who was elected at the age of 43 in 2010, has held the record as the youngest PM.
Tony Blair, who served from 1997-2007, was also 43 when he entered office - but he was a few months older than Cameron at the time Cameron entered No 10. But Sunak is not as young as William Pitt the Younger, who was 24 when he was elected in 1783.
He will travel to Buckingham Palace to meet King Charles before entering No 10 as the UK's first British Asian PM.
He will be the UK's third leader in seven weeks and is expected to make his first speech as PM outside Downing Street at 11:35.
But first, outgoing PM Liz Truss will chair her last cabinet meeting at 09:00 before submitting her formal resignation to the King at 10:15.
After being selected by Tory MPs on Monday, Sunak warned the country faced a "profound economic challenge" but promised to serve with integrity.
He ruled out an early general election, despite calls from Labour, the Scottish National Party, the Liberal Democrats and the Green Party.
He faces a daunting task of tackling the UK's highest inflation for 40 years and uniting the Tory Party.
British food prices rose at the fastest pace since 1980 last month, driving inflation back to a 40-year high and heaping pressure on the embattled government to balance the books without gutting help for the nation’s poorest residents. Food prices jumped 14.6% in the year through September, led by the soaring cost of staples such as meat, bread, milk and eggs, the Office for National
The biggest jump in food prices since 1980 pushed British inflation back into double digits last month, matching a 40-year high hit in July in a new blow for households grappling with a cost-of-living crisis.
LONDON, July 21: Former United Kingdom (UK) Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak and Foreign Secretary Liz Truss emerged as the final two candidates in the country's Tory leadership race on Wednesday.
International Trade Minister Penny Mordaunt was knocked out in the final round of ballot among Conservative lawmakers. Sunak won 137 votes, Truss received 113.
The contest to replace Boris Johnson as prime minister will now go before the Conservative Party's 200,000-odd dues-paying members, who will select the winner later this summer via mail-in ballot. The winner, to be announced on Sept. 5, will automatically become Johnson's successor.
Though Sunak has won each of the five rounds of voting by lawmakers, a YouGov poll published on Tuesday showed that he was less popular with the party's grassroots. He is predicted to lose to Truss, a favorite of the party's right wing, in the head-to-head contest.
Both candidates have made pledges on tax cuts as the cost-of-living crisis continues to bite. However, Sunak dismissed as "fairytales" his rivals' promises of immediate tax cuts, arguing that inflation must be brought under control first. Inflation in the UK rose by 9.4 percent in June, hitting a fresh 40-year high, official statistics showed on Wednesday.
Truss, on the other hand, promised to start cutting taxes from day one.
The Tory leadership race was triggered after Johnson was forced to step down on July 7 by an avalanche of resignations of government officials, who protested against his scandal-plagued leadership. Johnson continues to serve as caretaker prime minister until a new Tory leader succeeds him.
Johnson, who won a landslide victory in the general elections in 2019, lost support after he was caught in a string of scandals, including the Partygate scandal and the Chris Pincher scandal involving his appointment of Pincher, a politician accused of sexual misconduct, to a high-level post.
But Johnson defended his record in his last appearance in the Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons on Wednesday afternoon, shortly before the ballot results were announced. The lawmakers will start their summer recess on Thursday.
Claiming that "mission largely accomplished - for now," he once again touted his achievements of pulling off the Brexit deal, rolling out the COVID-19 vaccine and helping Ukraine during his three-year premiership.
Johnson signed off his farewell speech by saying "Hasta la vista, baby" (See you later), a famous phrase used by Hollywood legend Arnold Schwarzenegger in the film Terminator, sparking speculation that he aims to make a political comeback.
LONDON: The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) license fee will be frozen for the next two years and will rise in line with inflation for the four years
The largest downward contributions came from accommodation services and tobacco, the ONS said. Yael Selfin, Chief Economist at KPMG UK, said the inflation rate "at well below the Bank of England's target gives it more leeway to act next year."
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