Keir Starmer says ‘people are ready to put their trust in a Labour government’, as wins by Damien Egan and Gen Kitchen put further pressure on Rishi Sunak

• Labour overturns 18,000 majority to win Wellingborough
• Labour win byelection in Kingswood

Gen Kitchen, the new MP for Wellingborough, said she was “ecstatic” at the result, adding that the double byelection win for Labour shows that people are “fed up” and want change.

“The people of Wellingborough have spoken for Britain. This is a stunning victory for the Labour party and must send a message from Northamptonshire to Downing Street,” she said.

Labour aiming to win two byelections as chancellor defends Sunak’s record, saying ‘economy is turning a corner’

On Sky News this morning Jeremy Hunt claimed that he would “only cut taxes in a way that was responsible” in the March budget, and the chancellor refused to be drawn on specific measures.

He told viewers:

You will know that chancellors don’t talk about budgets just a few weeks before and that is for a very good reason, because I don’t yet know the final numbers that I will receive from the office for budget responsibility.

I would only cut taxes in a way that was responsible, and I certainly wouldn’t do anything that fuelled inflation just when we are starting to have some success in bringing down inflation.

I am a passionate supporter of the NHS and all our public services, but in the long-run the best thing that I can do as chancellor for the NHS is to make sure that our economy is growing healthily. So what you will see in everything I do in the Budget on March 6 is prioritising economic growth.

Former Tory home secretary tells House of Lords he hopes the bill will be struck down as ‘unconstitutional’

By the way I notice in the comments – see I promised that I do read them – some criticism of the reporting of the inflation figures saying that food prices fell when the headline inflation rate is 4%.

While it is true that inflation falling from 11% to 4% doesn’t mean that prices are going down, it means they are going up more slowly, my understanding is that the food price component of the inflation figures did show prices going down, albeit from a high base.

However, food and non-alcoholic drink prices fell at a monthly rate of 0.4% in January, the first monthly decline since May 2021, driven by price cuts in January for bread and cereals, cream crackers, sponge cake and chocolate biscuits.

Against a backdrop of a tough Christmas for UK retailers because of weak consumer spending, furniture prices also fell at the fastest monthly rate in four years amid steep reductions for kitchens, leather settees, dining tables and chairs.

The ONS said that although food inflation fell on the month in January, prices had increased by 25% over the past two years – more than double the rate seen over the entire preceding decade.