By Stefan Boscia
Astronomical renting costs in the capital have led to a higher inflation rate in London than the rest of the UK, according to new figures released by City Hall.
The figures show underlying inflation has been 1.5 per cent higher in London than the rest of the country over the past six months, after annual Consumer Price Index (CPI) growth in the UK hit 10.1 per cent last month.
This has been driven largely by rental costs, with City Hall finding that “rents for new rentals in London are growing faster than anywhere else in the UK [and are] up as much as 15.8 per cent annually in the last three months”.
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said “millions of low paid Londoners are living on the front line of the cost of living crisis” and called on the government to offer more help on energy bills this autumn.
Tory leadership frontrunner Liz Truss has indicated she is willing to give direct payments to the most vulnerable this autumn and winter to help counter the soaring cost of energy bills, after originally saying she was not in favour of “handouts”.
Business secretary, and Truss ally, Kwasi Kwarteng told the Mail on Sunday that he wanted to “reassure the British people that help is coming”.
Truss’ rival Rishi Sunak has said he would give hundreds of pounds more to people as the energy price cap climbs further in October, after giving every household between £400 and £1,200 earlier this year as chancellor.
A Treasury source said the “civil service is making the appropriate preparations in order to ensure that any additional support or commitments on cost of living can be delivered as quickly as possible when the new Prime Minister is in place”.
A government spokesperson said: “We know that rising prices caused by global challenges are affecting how far people’s incomes go, which is why we are providing £37bn worth of help for households which is being phased in throughout the year.”
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