Food drives UK inflation above 10%

Food prices rising at their highest rate in 42 years have been identified as the main reason for inflation in the United Kingdom hitting double digits in September, according to new figures released by the Office for National Statistics.

Following a 9.9 percent rate in August, inflation in September rose to 10.1 percent. The annual price rise rate of food products, including dietary staples such as bread, meat and dairy products, is 14.6 percent, the highest level recorded since April 1980, as the economy attempts to deal with the ongoing cost of living crisis and the continued fallout of last month's now-abandoned "mini-budget".

As soon as they were announced, the economic plans of then chancellor of the exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng and Prime Minister Liz Truss provoked a huge economic backlash, sending the value of the pound tumbling and pushing up interest rates, before Kwarteng was sacked after less than six weeks into the job. He was replaced last week by Jeremy Hunt, who promptly binned almost all of Kwarteng's proposals.

Hunt now has less than two weeks in which to try to calm the economic climate and come up with ways of plugging government funding gaps before Oct 31, when the government's medium-term fiscal plan will be announced, and the Office for Budget Responsibility will publish its analysis of the situation.

"I understand that families across the country are struggling with rising prices and higher energy bills," Hunt said.

"This government will prioritize help for the most vulnerable, while delivering wider economic stability and driving long-term growth that will help everyone."

Many lenders withdrew deals from the market in the immediate aftermath of the now discredited "mini-budget", but The Daily Telegraph newspaper reported that Hunt's intervention had ended what it called the market "panic mode".