Upper income earners will be hardest hit by rising costs as Labour’s campaign against Britain’s middle class takes its toll, official figures show.
For the first time since March last year, richer households are seeing prices rise higher than poorer ones, while workers are suffering more than pensioners from rising prices. cost of living – according to data published on Friday by the Office for National Statistics (US).
Meanwhile, Britons have become increasingly worried since Labor came to power, separate data from the government body shows.
This comes after former Chancellor Rachel Reeves demanded that those with the “broadest shoulders” pay their “fair share,” and introduced tax hikes last fall. Budgetmaking higher incomes worse off.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham pledged last month to create “breathing space” for households struggling with rising costs of living.
But higher incomes are now being hit hardest by rising costs – with annual costs inflation This will increase by 2.7 percent for low-income households and 2.8 percent for high-income households in the period up to June 2026.
Retired households experienced inflation of 2.5 percent, compared to working households of 2.9 percent in June this year. While annual inflation fell for both retirees and workers between March and June, the difference between the two groups increased by 0.4 percentage points.
Private tenants experienced the highest annual inflation of 3 percent in June, compared to social tenants and homeowners. This comes as Britons feel more anxious than at any time since December 2023, according to a quarterly wellbeing report published by the ONS on Friday.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham last month pledged to create “breathing space” for households struggling with the rising cost of living
Women reported especially high levels of anxiety compared to men, with people between the ages of 20 and 24 most likely to feel anxious.
Shadow Chancellor Sir Mel Stride said: ‘Things seem to be getting worse under Labour. The cost of doing business has gone up, the cost of living has gone up, and everyone is carrying a greater burden and more concern about basic needs.”
Anne Strickland of the TaxPayers’ Alliance said: ‘Working households are under pressure, with renters and non-pensioners continuing to bear the brunt of rising costs.
“The cost of living crisis is far from over for the taxpayers who fund a state that is increasingly demanding more.”
A Treasury spokesperson said: “The Chancellor [John Healey] has taken immediate action from his very first day in office to give families and businesses breathing space – including abolishing VAT on electricity bills this winter, cutting business rates for pubs, clubs and live music venues by 20 per cent next year and capping bus fares at £2 by 2027.”
