Why the price of a cuppa has got the kettle boiling

For the sixth month in a row, food prices have risen in the UK with the latest figures from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) revealing the worst hit items are basics such as eggs, meat, cheese and milk.

- JAMES MOORE CHIEF BUSINESS COMMENTATOR

Another casualty of food inflation, according to this month's data, is the humble cuppa - with teabags seeing a sharp increase of 4 per cent this month, up from 3.7 per cent in June. These increases are cumulative. Even if food price inflation falls - and there is precious little sign of that - prices will still rise.

The BRC's number isn't quite as bad as that produced by WorldPanel, formerly Kantar, which recorded a 5.2 per cent rise during July. But that's just comparing "bad" with "worse".

Even so, the fact remains that it's everyday essentials and shopping staples that are going up in price - something we should all be worried about.

Food price inflation hits those on low incomes hardest. True, tea isn't something you need in order to live. But come on: if even tea is being pushed into the luxury category there's clearly a larger issue at play.

So, what's to blame? As ever, it's down to a combination of factors. Food inflation has risen across the board because of the extra costs loaded onto supermarkets by, you guessed it, the government - including Rachel Reeves's decision to increase employer national insurance contributions (NICs) while lowering the threshold at which the levy kicks in.

This has hit grocers particularly hard because of the high number of relatively low-waged staff they employ. The chancellor promised not to tax "working people", but these figures clearly demonstrate that she has done exactly that.