London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Friday, Aug 22, 2025

Milk and cheese drive food price inflation to 45-year high

Milk and cheese drive food price inflation to 45-year high

Food prices are rising at their fastest rate for 45 years, with the cost of basics such as milk, cheese and eggs surging.

Food price inflation hit 16.2% in the year to October, up from 14.5% in September, latest figures show.

Energy and fuel costs also rose sharply, pushing the overall inflation rate to its highest level since 1981.

The surging cost of living is squeezing household budgets, leaving many people facing hardship.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said it was hitting poorer households hardest, as they spent around half of their income on food and energy, compared to about a third for those on middle incomes.

October's overall inflation rate, of 11.1%, is the highest for 41 years and up from 10.1% in September.

The latest figures come ahead of Thursday's Autumn Statement, in which Chancellor Jeremy Hunt is expected to announce billions of pounds worth of public spending cuts and tax rises.

Mr Hunt said his plans would aim to bring spiralling price rises under control, adding that he would take "tough but necessary decisions" to get the economy back on track.

But Labour's shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves said the surging inflation rate would "strike more fear in the heart of families across Britain" and blamed "12 years of Tory economic failure".

Inflation is a measure of the cost of living and to calculate it, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) keeps track of the prices of hundreds of everyday items, known as a "basket of goods".

The ONS said that food prices had risen sharply in October with milk, pasta, margarine, eggs and cereals all going up.



However, gas and electricity prices were still the main drivers of inflation after bills climbed again last month.

The government's Energy Price Guarantee scheme did mitigate those rises, limiting the average household bill to around £2,500 a year.

But the ONS said gas and electricity prices were still up by nearly 130% and 66% respectively compared with a year ago.

Without the government's support, however, it said overall inflation would have risen to as high as 13.8%.

Greg Pilley is the founder of the Stroud Brewery & Taproom in Gloucestershire, which supplies beer to pubs and shops. He told the BBC his business has been hit by a 10% rise in costs.

"Electricity has doubled over the last year," he said. "We're paying £70,000 a year compared to £30,000 in the previous year, but also raw materials are going up by between 10-15%."

He said he'd had to put his prices up, while he was also paying much more in wages.

"The future is fairly unpredictable," Mr Pilley said. "We've got to sell three times as much beer... just to stay in the same place."

Energy and food prices have been rising since last year because of the war in Ukraine and the impact of the Covid pandemic.

Rising prices have led to workers across a number of sectors calling for pay increases in line with the higher cost of living, with some industries such as the railways, staging strikes.

However, some economists suggest October's 11.1% inflation rate could be the peak.

Paul Dales, chief UK economist at Capital Economics, said prices could begin to slow down "if the government continues to freeze [energy] prices in some way".

"There is growing evidence that the upward pressure on core inflation from global factors is now fading," he added.

Dame Deanne Julius, former member of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee which sets interest rates, also said some of the elements driving inflation - aside from energy bills and food prices - were stabilising.

If inflation falls, it won't mean prices will come down, it means prices will rise at a slower rate.

The Bank of England has put up interest rates to 3% in a bid to cool inflation. It hopes that by making borrowing money more expensive, people will spend less, demand will decrease and the pace of price rises will be curbed.

But higher rates are driving up the cost of mortgages and other loans.

The squeeze on spending is dragging on the UK economy which is likely to enter a recession at the end of the year.

Latest figures showed the economy contracted by 0.2% between July and September and the Bank of England has warned the UK is facing a tough two-year downturn.

A recession is defined as when an economy shrinks for two three-month periods in a row. It's a sign an economy is performing badly, with companies often making less money and unemployment rising.

Countries around the world are experiencing higher inflation. The rate in Germany is higher than in the UK, at 11.6%, while prices rose by 7.7% in the year to October in the US.

However, the UK is performing worse economically than other major nations, with its economy smaller than it was before the Covid pandemic.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Ukraine Declares De Facto War on Hungary and Slovakia with Terror Drone Strikes on Their Gas Lifeline
Animated K-pop Musical ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ Becomes Netflix’s Most-Watched Original Animated Film
New York Appeals Court Voids Nearly $500 Million Civil Fraud Penalty Against Trump While Upholding Fraud Liability
Elon Musk tweeted, “Europe is dying”
Far-Right Activist Convicted of Incitement Changes Gender and Demands: "Send Me to a Women’s Prison" | The Storm in Germany
Hungary Criticizes Ukraine: "Violating Our Sovereignty"
Will this be the first country to return to negative interest rates?
Child-free hotels spark controversy
North Korea is where this 95-year-old wants to die. South Korea won’t let him go. Is this our ally or a human rights enemy?
Hong Kong Launches Regulatory Regime and Trials for HKD-Backed Stablecoins
China rehearses September 3 Victory Day parade as imagery points to ‘loyal wingman’ FH-97 family presence
Trump Called Viktor Orbán: "Why Are You Using the Veto"
Horror in the Skies: Plane Engine Exploded, Passengers Sent Farewell Messages
MSNBC Rebrands as MS NOW Amid Comcast’s Cable Spin-Off
AI in Policing: Draft One Helps Speed Up Reports but Raises Legal and Ethical Concerns
Shame in Norway: Crown Princess’s Son Accused of Four Rapes
Apple Begins Simultaneous iPhone 17 Production in India and China
A Robot to Give Birth: The Chinese Announcement That Shakes the World
Finnish MP Dies by Suicide in Parliament Building
Outrage in the Tennis World After Jannik Sinner’s Withdrawal Storm
William and Kate Are Moving House – and the New Neighbors Were Evicted
Class Action Lawsuit Against Volkswagen: Steering Wheel Switches Cause Accidents
Taylor Swift on the Way to the Super Bowl? All the Clues Stirring Up Fans
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Apple Expands Social Media Presence in China With RedNote Account Ahead of iPhone 17 Launch
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Cambridge Dictionary Adds 'Skibidi,' 'Delulu,' and 'Tradwife' Amid Surge of Online Slang
Bill Barr Testifies No Evidence Implicated Trump in Epstein Case; DOJ Set to Release Records
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
The CEO Who Replaced 80% of Employees for the AI Revolution: "I Would Do It Again"
Emails Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Character.ai Bets on Future of AI Companionship
China Ramps Up Tax Crackdown on Overseas Investments
Japanese Office Furniture Maker Expands into Bomb Shelter Market
Intel Shares Surge on Possible U.S. Government Investment
Hurricane Erin Threatens U.S. East Coast with Dangerous Surf
EU Blocks Trade Statement Over Digital Rule Dispute
EU Sends Record Aid as Spain Battles Wildfires
JPMorgan Plans New Canary Wharf Tower
Zelenskyy and his allies say they will press Trump on security guarantees
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Escalating Clashes in Serbia as Anti-Government Protests Spread Nationwide
The Drought in Britain and the Strange Request from the Government to Delete Old Emails
Category 5 Hurricane in the Caribbean: 'Catastrophic Storm' with Winds of 255 km/h
"No, Thanks": The Mathematical Genius Who Turned Down 1.5 Billion Dollars from Zuckerberg
The surprising hero, the ugly incident, and the criticism despite victory: "Liverpool’s defense exposed in full"
Digital Humans Move Beyond Sci-Fi: From Virtual DJs to AI Customer Agents
YouTube will start using AI to guess your age. If it’s wrong, you’ll have to prove it
Jellyfish Swarm Triggers Shutdown at Gravelines Nuclear Power Station in Northern France
×