In September, Britain’s annual inflation rate held at 6.7 percent, the same as August, as rising fuel prices offset lower food costs.

The cost of energy rose for the first time in four months on higher prices for gasoline and diesel fuels. Food prices fell, month over month, for the first time in two years due to “relatively small price movements,” largely in dairy products, the Office of National Statistics reported. 

Core inflation, stripped of food and fuel prices, ticked down to 6.1 percent last month from 6.2 percent in August.

The Israel-Hamas war could drive energy prices higher and send inflation back up, analysts warned.

Inflation in services also slowed slightly from August but still ran at 6.8 percent.

In September, the Bank of England (BoE) held its interest rate steady for the first time since late 2021. However, bank governor Andrew Bailey said in a statement earlier this month that future rate decisions will be “tight” and the central bank has more to do to wrestle inflation down.

Prices will be rising at a rate of less than five percent by year-end, the bank has predicted.

Wages in the U.K. rose at a brisk 8-percent pace through June, July, and August. While that helps households cope with higher prices, higher wages also can fuel inflation by costing employers more and prodding them to raise their prices to cover the cost of higher worker pay.

TRENDPOST: Inflation in the U.K. has proved more stubborn than among other Western nations. Prices rose at 4.1 percent in the U.S. and 4.3 in the Eurozone in September. The bottom line is that the U.K. economy was hit hard by the COVID War and the draconian lockdowns that destroyed the lives and livelihoods of countless millions. 

Indeed, as Euronews reported on Monday:

“In new data, it’s been revealed that overall spending on homelessness has increased by 10.5% since 2021/22 and a majority of councils have reported their costs have gone up.

“Some 298,430 households in England became homeless or were at risk of becoming homeless, including 104,460 families with children between April 2022 and March this year.

“That’s according to the latest government figures which also show the number of households in temporary accommodation was 104,510 – the highest on record.

“The data, published by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC), also reveals that the number of people facing homelessness, because they received a so-called ‘no-fault’ eviction notice, increased by 27.4% to 24,260.

“In the same period, there was also a 30.5% increase in people assessed by local authorities as sleeping rough.”