Sunak planning 'targeted moves' to ease the cost of living crisis as inflation soars to 9%

RISHI Sunak is preparing to unleash new measures to help hard-pressed households through the cost of living crisis.

- Martyn Brown

The Chancellor said he "will go further” in easing pressures as he warned families to brace for more price rises in the coming months.

With inflation expected to soar above nine per cent today, Mr Sunak is facing calls to step in immediately.

But the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Simon Clarke, has indicated new help won't be imminent - and a programme of measures will be introduced in a "targeted way”.

Mr Sunak told MPs that global forces, such as the pandemic recovery, the war in Ukraine and spiralling inflation, were making "life difficult for families at the moment”.

He added: “There is no measure any Government can take, no law we can pass that can make these global forces disappear overnight.”

He said that the Government had already brought forward £22billion of support this year and "we stand ready” to do more.

“But that support is part of a broader plan that will grow our economy, encourage investment and create more skilled, more high-wage jobs," he told the Commons.

He spoke as Britain's rate of unemployment dropped to 3.7 per cent in the three months to March the lowest since October to December 1974, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.