Rising cost of booze is pushing up inflation during the cost of living crisis

THE rising cost of booze is pushing up inflation during the cost of living crisis.

Official figures show that alcohol prices rose by three per cent last month compared with a 0.8 per cent increase last year.

That is despite overall food and consumer inflation falling in August.

The Office for National Statistics said costlier booze had made the biggest contribution to the annual rate of consumer price inflation since it began collecting data in 2006.

The price of spirits such as whisky, gin and vodka was 8.6 per cent higher in August than at the same time last year, while beer cost 13.5 per cent more.

It comes after Chancellor Jeremy Hunt increased alcohol and cigarette duty by 10.1 per cent last month — the first duty increase since 2020.

Mark Kent, of the Scotch Whisky Association, said: “It’s tough to bring down inflation when you introduce an inflation-busting tax increase.

By raising excise duty on Scotch whisky and other spirits, the Chancellor didn’t just keep inflation unnecessarily high.

“He hurt a domestic industry that has consistently delivered revenue for the public purse and invests in the UK.

“And he penalised responsible consumers struggling with rising costs.”

Soft Power

MICROSOFT’S £55billion takeover of Call of Duty maker Activision Blizzard is set for UK approval after a US and EU thumbs-up.

The Competition and Markets Authority said yesterday that its offer to sell its cloud gaming rights to rival Ubisoft “substantially addresses previous concerns”.

Retail rising

RETAIL sales rose by 0.4 per cent last month as shoppers returned to the high street after a wet July.

But the rest of the private sector shrank at the fastest rate since 2021.

A snapshot from S&P’s purchasing managers’ index found services and manufacturing industries are suffering the sharpest decline in years.

Good week

Bad week