Annual rate in August unchanged, and hovering above Bank of England’s 2% target
The UK’s annual inflation rate rose by 2.2% in August, matching the increase in July, as lower petrol prices at the pump were offset by higher air fares.
Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show the government’s preferred measure of the cost of living remained steady, matching forecasts by City economists and hovering just above the Bank of England’s 2% target.
Continue reading...Pressure on household finances eases as shop price rises slow to 0.2% and petrol costs drop for second month
Britain’s next government is poised to benefit from easing pressure on household finances after a slowdown in inflation in stores and a fall in fuel prices, but costs remain “too expensive” for many families.
Figures from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) show that annual UK shop price inflation cooled last month to 0.2%, down from 0.6% in May – the slowest pace since October 2021 – as retailers cut the prices of many of their key products, including butter and coffee.
Continue reading...Union warns of risks to shoppers and staff after Zuber Issa sells 22.5% supermarket stake to private equity co-owners TDR Capital
The billionaire brothers who part-own Asda have gone their separate ways, with Zuber Issa selling his shares in the supermarket to the private equity firm TDR Capital amid a rift between the siblings.
Zuber owned 22.5% of the Leeds-based grocery chain after a £6.8bn takeover alongside his older brother Mohsin and TDR three years ago. The sale of his stake had been expected for months, but was thought to have been complicated by lock-in agreements.
Continue reading...Chain once prided itself on selling the cheapest fuel but RAC analysis shows it is now the dearest
Asda is now the UK’s most expensive supermarket fuel seller, research shows, after the retailer’s private owners ditched its long-held pledge to be the cheapest on the market.
The retailer, which was bought by the billionaire Issa brothers and their private equity partner TDR Capital in 2021, charged an average 2.1p a litre more for unleaded petrol than rivals Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons at the end of May, according to an analysis by the RAC motoring organisation.
Continue reading...Chancellor’s 5p freeze will save £60 a year for well-off motorists compared with just £22 for lower earners
Retaining the fuel duty cut in the budget is a regressive policy that benefits the wealthiest in society, who will save £60 a year, while those who earn the least will save just £22, according to analysis.
Jeremy Hunt on Wednesday announced an extension of the 5p cut in fuel duty brought in during 2022, for which he has won plaudits across the rightwing press.
Continue reading...Petrol is up 3.2p a litre and diesel 4p a litre as fuel tankers are forced to avoid the Suez canal
The cost of filling up a family car in the UK increased by about £2 this month as the jump in the oil price caused by the Red Sea attacks is felt at the pumps.
In the three weeks to 18 February petrol increased by 3.2p to 143.4p a litre, while diesel rose by 4p to 152p, according to the RAC, which said this was “worrying” for motorists.
Continue reading...Petrol station owners will have to provide near-live data amid concerns drivers are being ripped off
Fuel retailers will be forced to share near-live information on price changes at the pump to help drivers find the cheapest petrol and diesel, after the government accused them of treating motorists as “cash cows”.
Petrol station owners will be required to provide data within half an hour of any change as part of a political effort to bring transparency to the sector amid concerns that drivers are being ripped off.
Continue reading...Calls over pothole incidents hit 6,000 in usually benign summer months amid ‘substandard’ roads
Vehicle breakdowns caused by Britain’s pothole-ridden roads reached record levels this year, according to the RAC.
The motoring organisation said it received almost 6,000 calls for pothole-related incidents from July to September – its highest total for the relatively benign summer period since it started collecting data in 2006.
Continue reading...Diesel up by more than 8p to 163p in September and petrol by 4.5p to 152p amid global oil production cuts
The price of diesel in the UK has shot up at one of its fastest rates in more than 20 years – while retailers have been accused of charging “unjustifiably” high petrol prices.
Diesel prices rose by more than 8p a litre to 163p in September, the fifth biggest monthly rise since 2000, and on top of another 8p rise the previous month, the RAC said. Petrol prices rose by 4.5p a litre to 152p, the fourth consecutive monthly increase.
Continue reading...Motorists could be hardest hit after Russia and Saudi Arabia extend cuts to supplies
Motorists are braced for higher pump prices after the cost of oil climbed above $90 a barrel for the first time this year as Russia and Saudi Arabia extended cuts to supplies.
Oil jumped to its highest price since last November, after the two oil-rich nations said they would prolong a plan to withhold supplies from the global market until December.
Continue reading...Other retailers say they are working with government on implementing industry-wide comparison service
Asda has begun publishing local fuel prices at its forecourts online, becoming the first retailer to launch the service following pressure from the competition watchdog and MPs over widened profit margins at the pump.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has called on the government to introduce legislation to ensure fuel retailers provide up-to-date pricing for a new industry-wide comparison service.
Continue reading...Competition regulator tells business committee of ‘significant change’ in retailer’s fuel pricing
Asda’s profit margins on fuel have tripled since before the pandemic, according to the competition regulator at a bad-tempered parliamentary hearing where the supermarket chain’s co-owner repeatedly refused to explain its pricing strategy.
Mohsin Issa declined to answer multiple questions on whether Asda had increased its profit margins on fuel since its takeover in 2021, prompting MPs on the business select committee to become increasingly furious as the retailer insisted it had not changed its strategy.
Continue reading...Energy secretary backs voluntary price comparison scheme in meeting with supermarket bosses rather than new law
The energy secretary, Grant Shapps, appears to have rowed back on plans for a law to force supermarkets to make fuel prices more transparent, instead backing a voluntary price comparison scheme in a meeting with supermarket bosses.
Shapps on Monday endorsed the non-mandatory scheme, which had been suggested by the competition regulator, after a summit with retailers that he had promised would involve him holding “rip-off retailers” to account.
Continue reading...Reduction follows CMA plans to grill executives about ‘sustained higher margins’ but RAC says retailers should go further
Supermarkets have cut more than 7p a litre from the price of diesel since the UK’s competition watchdog warned it would question retail bosses about unnecessarily high forecourt prices, according to the RAC.
The motoring group found that the average price of diesel fell by 7.44p a litre, from 151.02p two weeks ago to 143.58p this week, after the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) raised concerns that retailers were making “sustained higher margins” from sales of diesel.
Continue reading...As energy bills soar, survey shows almost half of homes are worried about paying rent or mortgage
More than one in eight UK households fear they have no further way to make cuts to afford a sharp increase in annual energy bills this autumn.
More than a quarter of households earning less than £20,000 worry they will be unable to cope with higher bills, with families in Yorkshire, the south-west and Northern Ireland the least confident about covering their costs, according to the latest rebuilding Britain index of 20,000 people by Legal & General.
Continue reading...Slow-driving convoy caused long delays to those heading to Devon and Cornwall on the first day of the school holidays
Protesters campaigning against high fuel prices have disrupted holiday getaways to the south-west of England by driving in convoy slowly up and down a motorway before blockading a petrol station.
The convoy drove at 30mph on three lanes of the M5 north and south in Somerset and the Bristol area on Friday morning as tens of thousands of people headed to Devon and Cornwall to begin summer breaks.
Continue reading...Annual rate in June up from May’s 9.1% figure and exceeds analysts’ expectations
Rising petrol and diesel prices for motorists and dearer food pushed Britain’s annual inflation rate to a fresh 40-year high of 9.4% last month.
Figures from the Office for National Statistics showed the government’s preferred measure of the cost of living – the consumer prices index – was up from May’s 9.1% figure.
Continue reading...OECD singles out cost of living crisis as a cause of Britain’s slide down growth league table
Boris Johnson’s attempt to reset his troubled premiership has received a double blow after petrol prices had their biggest daily rise in 17 years and a leading international thinktank said the UK economy would slow to a standstill next year.
Fears that Britain is heading for a prolonged period of 1970s-style stagflation intensified amid fresh evidence of the damaging impact of the war in Ukraine on the cost of living and growth.
Continue reading...Just Stop Oil says action will affect fuel availability at petrol pumps across south-east and Midlands
Clean energy campaigners claim to have disrupted supplies from three oil terminals in the Midlands and south-east of England, as motorists complain that some petrol stations are running short of fuel.
The government said only one terminal was out of action on Sunday afternoon as a result of the Just Stop Oil protests, and that local police forces were working with the industry to ensure that fuel supplies can be maintained.
Continue reading...After Tesco’s website and app were down for most of the weekend, leaving many frustrated customers unable to shop online, HSBC’s business banking portal (called HSBCnet) had some issues this morning.
Large corporate customers only had intermittent access via the website or app for about an hour, from 9.10am, but the problem has been fixed, according to HSBC.
This is truly a dark day for drivers, and one which we hoped we wouldn’t see again after the high prices of April 2012. This will hurt many household budgets and no doubt have knock-on implications for the wider economy.
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