The average UK household is paying over £1,000 a year more for food than in 2020/21, new analysis has found.
The research by Labour found a typical UK household spent £69.20 a week on food and non-alcoholic drinks in the year to March 2021, based on figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
Adjusted for inflation, UK households spent £89.29 a week between March 2021 and May 2023. This works out as £1,045 more per year.
Food prices in Britain have risen by 18.4 per cent over the last year, compared to 14.9 per cent in France, 14.5 per cent in Germany and 5.6 per cent in the US, according to ONS and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) data.
The UK has therefore seen food prices rise at the fastest rate of any G7 country, including 23.5 per cent faster than in France, 26.9 per cent faster than in Germany and 228.6 per cent faster than in the US.
Labour’s shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves said: “This Tory government can’t get a grip of this problem because they are the problem.
“Thirteen years of the Tories and their disastrous mini-Budget are damaging our economic security and leaving families worse off.
“Simply continuing on this Tory path of managed decline is not the summit of Labour’s ambition.
“We need a more secure economy, more secure family finances and a plan to help us grab hold of the opportunities before us.
“With a relentless focus on the cost of living, our strong fiscal rules and our mission for growth, that is what a Labour government will bring.”
ONS data
Labour’s analysis is based on a snapshot comparison between hypothetical shopping baskets rather than real-world examples but it illustrates the kind of pressures facing consumers as a result of high inflation.
It also compares May’s figures to those of two years ago, before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine caused food inflation to spike.
The Labour analysis was released on the same day the ONS said that Consumer Prices Index (CPI) inflation remained at 8.7 per cent in May, unchanged from the month before. Experts had expected it to drop to 8.4 per cent.
Yet despite rising prices, the rate of food inflation actually fell from 19.1 per cent in April to 18.4 per cent in May, ONS figures showed.
British Retail Consortium chief Helen Dickinson said: “It is a really positive sign that food inflation has fallen for the second consecutive month, the first time this has happened since the Ukraine war began.
“While some prices continue to rise, we are now seeing regular news reports of falling prices on many essential products, such as loo rolls and vegetable oil.
“It has been good to see larger drops in inflation rates for flour, milk and eggs as retailers continue to invest heavily in lower prices for the future and locking the price of many essentials, helping the UK to deliver some of the cheapest groceries in Europe.”
Concerned households
Chief executive of the Food and Drink Federation Karen Betts said: “It’s encouraging to see food and drink price inflation starting to drop off, and we hope it will continue to fall over the coming months.
“However, we know too how concerned households remain about the costs of the weekly shop, and food and drink manufacturers are continuing to drive down costs wherever they can.
“But the fact remains that the cost of ingredients, energy, labour, packaging, logistics and other inputs remain stubbornly high, and still some way above pre-pandemic levels.”
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