'Nothing We Can Do About Inflation Crisis,' Says Sunak

Senior Conservatives have urged the chancellor to do more to help hard-hit families

- Andrew Woodcock, Anna Isaac

Rishi Sunak has said there is nothing the government can do to stop rising inflation impacting Britain's families, as he resists clamour from Conservatives - including the former chancellor

Kenneth Clarke - for urgent help for those struggling with price hikes. Instead, Mr Sunak used a speech to the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) yesterday to promise tax breaks for business in the autumn Budget, aimed at stimulating sluggish productivity.

As inflation topped 9 per cent for the first time in 40 years, and experts warned that the true rise in living costs was closer to 11 per cent for the poorest families, the chancellor said he was powerless to stem global pressures such as the pandemic, war in Ukraine, and supply chain disruption.

"There is no measure any government could take, no law we could pass, that can make these global forces disappear overnight. The next few months will be tough," he said. Meanwhile, Andrew Bailey, governor of the Bank of England, said he felt "helpless" to stop inflation.

Former Tory chancellor Kenneth Clarke made a dramatic intervention, calling for welfare increases for the worst-off and dismissing Mr Sunak's 5p cut in fuel tax and proposed 1p reduction in income tax as "a complete waste of time". "I would have done it in the spring statement, raised universal credit," he told LBC. "The people you've got to protect from any fall in living standards if you can are of course the poorest of the poor and the lowest paid."