UK consumer price inflation rises at fastest clip in 30 years

British consumer price inflation leapt to its highest level in three decades last month, intensifying the pressure on embattled Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his finance minister Rishi Sunak to ease the cost-of-living squeeze.

The annual inflation rate climbed to 7.0 per cent in March from 6.2 per cent in February, its highest since March 1992 and by more than expected by most economists in a Reuters poll, the official data showed on Wednesday.

 

The month-on-month rise was the highest for the time of year since the Office for National Statistics’ records began in 1988.

Broad-based price rises,