THE latest figures have confirmed that the rate of inflation has fallen to 6.8 per cent, down from 7.9 per cent in June and over 10 per cent at the beginning of the year.

Putin’s illegal war in Ukraine and the lasting effects of the Covid pandemic continue to have an impact across the world, but these figures show that our plan is working, with inflation now standing at its lowest level since February last year – meaning more money in the pockets of working families.

A core part of the Conservative Government’s plans is a responsible approach to the public finances and decreasing our reliance on borrowing. We cannot spend our way out of these challenges; tough decisions have been made to give our public sector workers a fair pay deal without increasing inflation, taxes or debt. The more we borrow now, the more we add pressure to the economy.

The Government has also been tough on the causes of inflation that drive prices up and eat up your savings. For example, work has been done to secure our country’s energy supply by backing new oil and gas licences in the North Sea and investing further in renewables. This means that moving forward the UK will be less reliant on expensive, foreign imports. The Government is also getting more people back into work by increasing employment support, expanding our free childcare offer, and removing the Lifetime Pensions Allowance.

Despite the difficult economic climate, our £94 billion cost of living support package remains in place. This includes increasing the National Living Wage by 9.7 per cent, extending our Household Support Fund to over £2 billion and uprating benefits and the State Pension in line with inflation. Further still, building on the support provided in 2022, millions of households will get up to £1,350 of government support in 2023-24: £900 for households on means-tested benefits being paid from April; £300 for pensioner households and £150 for disability benefit claimants.

There is still plenty more work to do and we must not be complacent.  However, this news shows that our plan to halve inflation this year is working. The biggest threat to our recovery would be to hand the rein of power to Sir Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves, who neither back a two per cent inflation target for the Bank of England nor have a plan to reduce inflation and keep it down.

Contact me: [email protected] | www.markharper.org | House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA | @Mark_J_Harper | facebook.com/mark.harper.fod