Cost-of-living crisis deepens as inflation rises

March reading marks 30-year high, but experts warn it could surge again in fall

A fuel price surge pushed inflation in the United Kingdom to 7 percent in March, its highest rate in 30 years, putting more pressure on households already struggling with the cost of living.

Consumer prices have risen across the board, although the biggest contributor to inflation - transport fuel - has seen a 9.9 percent monthly rise, which is its largest since records began in 1990, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.

Fuel inflation is now at 30.7 percent versus a year ago. The price of energy, transport and raw materials for businesses spiked after the outbreak of conflict in Ukraine at the end of February, the ONS said.

The rate of inflation was more than expected by most economists polled by the Reuters news agency, and brings more pressure on the government to offer support to the public.

Experts have warned wages will drop even further behind rising prices this year as inflation is expected to surge again in the fall, said ITV News. The ONS figures show that workers have suffered the biggest fall in their real pay for nearly nine years.

The UK's embattled finance minister, Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak, has been criticized for doing too little to ease the cost of living stresses, while he also faces scrutiny over his family's personal wealth.

Sunak will face intense pressure to do more, Jack Leslie, senior economist at the Resolution Foundation think tank, told Reuters.

"The sheer scale of this inflation-led squeeze on living standards makes it all the more remarkable how little support the chancellor provided in his spring statement-a decision that will surely have to be revisited before the Autumn Budget," Leslie said.

In response to the latest ONS data, Sunak said getting people into employment "was the best way" to help the public tackle rising costs that he noted were being caused by global pressures in supply chains and energy markets.

The Bank of England may again increase interest rates to address inflation, which it has done three times in the past few months, said the BBC.

Alpesh Paleja, lead economist at the Confederation of British Industry, said the latest rise in inflation "will not be the last".

Quoted in The Times, Paleja said: "We'll see another jump over April as the rise in Ofgem's energy price cap comes into effect. Beyond this, volatility in global commodity prices and ongoing supply chain disruption will continue to stoke price pressures."

The central bank has cautioned there will likely be a further rise in the price cap on energy that could happen in October.

The opposition Labour Party has been deeply critical of the government's planned tax rises this month.

Pat McFadden, Labour's shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, was quoted by PA Media as saying Sunak has "decided to make Britain the only major economy to land working people with higher taxes in the midst of a cost of living crisis."