UK inflation falls to 1.6% in March

15 April 2014 Last updated at 11:26 The price of clothing rose by less than last year The UK inflation rate as measured by the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) fell to 1.6% in March from 1.7% in February, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

It is the third consecutive month inflation has been below the Bank of England's 2% target rate, and the lowest rate since October 2009.

The largest contribution to the fall in the rate came from petrol prices.

The rate of Retail Prices Index (RPI) inflation also fell to 2.5% from 2.7%.

Continue reading the main story Continue reading the main story Hugh Pym Chief economics correspondent, BBC News

Not since records began in 1997 has inflation measured by the Consumer Prices Index fallen for six consecutive months.

The latest reported annual rate of 1.6% marks another four-year low.

There do not seem to be any clouds on the horizon at present in the form of rising global commodity and oil prices.

Indeed static fuel prices in March, compared with rising pump prices in March 2013, was one of the main reasons for the fall in the overall inflation rate.

The moment when wage rises start outstripping price increases is fast approaching.

Wednesday's average earnings number could overtake inflation.

That would be an important landmark in the cost of living debate.

But it may take a while before consumers feel they have noticed a difference to their living standards.

Petrol prices were unchanged between February and March, compared with a rise of 2.2p a litre a year earlier.

A smaller rise in the prices of clothing and footwear, compared with last year, also contributed to the drop in the inflation rate.

It is the sixth consecutive month that the rate of inflation has fallen, marking the longest consecutive fall since modern records began.

The drop in the rate of inflation means that the gap between average wage growth and the rise in prices has continued to narrow.

Average total earnings, including bonuses, rose 1.4% in the three months to January compared with a year earlier, according to ONS figures released last month. Excluding bonuses, wages grew by 1.3%.

The ONS will release its latest figures for average total earnings in the three months to February on Wednesday.

On Monday, economic forecasting group the EY ITEM Club predicted average earnings could rise faster than the cost of living as early as this month.

'Stable' environment

Capital Economics economist Samuel Tombs said: "March's UK inflation figures suggest that the six-year squeeze on real earnings is finally over."

Richard Campbell from the ONS announces the fall in inflation and talks about why the figure is down

And BNP Paribas economist David Tinsley said the rate of inflation remained "benign".

"This is providing plenty of breathing space for the Bank of England's MPC [Monetary Policy Committee] to re-iterate its intention not to move to policy tightening any time soon," he added.

David Kern, chief economist at the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) said the fall in the inflation rate was "good news" for businesses.

"It contributes to an environment of stability and reduces the case for short-term interest rate rises," he said.

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Heroin and crack treatment falls

6 October 2011 Last updated at 12:50 An increasing number of drug users are also said to be recovering from addiction The number of heroin and crack cocaine users needing treatment in England has fallen by 10,000 in two years.

The National Treatment Agency for Substance Abuse said the number of adults that began treatment for the class A drugs fell from 62,963 in 2008/09 to 52,933 in 2010/11.

The steepest decline was in the under-30 age group.

The number of people accessing treatment for all drugs also fell for the second year running.

The latest figures also show an increase in the number of drug users "recovering" from addiction - people who no longer need treatment.

Some 27,969 users were classed as recovering in 2010/11, a rise of 18% on the previous year and 150% higher than 11,208 in 2005/06.

The figures showed that, of the 255,556 people who entered a drugs treatment programme since April 2005 for the first time, 28% (71,887) had successfully completed the course and did not need further treatment.

Paul Hayes, the NTA's chief executive, said the figures showed that "recovery is now becoming a reality for more individuals each year".

"More drug users are recovering from addiction, fewer need treatment, and more are getting over their addiction quickly," he said.

'Not complacent'

Mr Hayes went on to say he thought the figures showed England had "probably passed the high watermark of the impact of epidemic of the late '80s and early '90s and that younger groups of people were reluctant to begin patterns of behaviour... that they've seen cause damage to their older siblings, people in their community, sometimes, sadly their mums and dads."

"They realise the consequences of heroin and crack use and they're turning their backs on that," he said.

He said officials were also seeing "significant declines in purity" which "suggests that attempts to restrict supply are having an impact".

"It's extremely likely, from where we sit, that the different aspects of the government's drugs strategy are coming together to have a positive effect," he added.

But he warned that addiction remained a "serious problem" for many communities, particularly the poorest ones.

"We need to remain vigilant, particularly in a tough economic climate.

"There's absolutely no inevitability that rising unemployment among young people will see a rise to '80s levels of heroin use, but we need to watch that situation very carefully," he said.

'Momentum'

Simon Antrobus, chief executive of Addaction, said it was "hugely encouraging" that young people were shunning heroin and crack cocaine.

He said underlying drug use still needed tackling, and it was important "not to let our guard down".

"While these figures suggest that fewer young people were turning to crack and heroin, Addaction is concerned that an older generation of long-term problem users remains; causing huge problems not only for themselves, but for their children.

"And we know that the children of this group are more likely to develop their own problems.

"So, while we hope today's figures prove to be a milestone in the tackling of the UK's drug problems, we certainly cannot be complacent."

Turning Point's director of substance misuse, John Mallalieu, said the figures were "promising" and the drug support charity had witnessed greater numbers of people recovering from drug addiction.

"This is made easier for them because as a nation, we are becoming more ambitious for drug users and giving them more opportunities to become part of society again.

"It is important that we ensure the right methodologies are kept in place to tackle the wide range of problems that contribute to a person's substance misuse such as mental health, unemployment, housing and physical health.

"The current momentum must be continued so that those 27,969 who are still in treatment have a better chance of turning their lives around too," he said.

The Axe of Austerity Falls

26 Oct 2010

by Rob in Business, In My Opinion, Our World, Politics, UK Tags: Austerity, Banks, British Pride, Class System, Coalition, Debt, Labour, Politics, Poor, Reform, Rich, Society, Spending Cuts, Spending Review

So Wednesday the 20th day of October in the year 2010, or 20-10-2010 in simple numbers was the day that the axe of Austerity swung on the British Economy and literally chopped every limb from our able bodied national existence.

Yes, it don’t really matter who you are, or who you work for, if you live, work or learn in the UK then you can pretty much guarantee that the next four years will suck big time. Hell its something we’ve all known has been coming since the election that saw Labour’s landslide victory of 1997 when the man I personally hold responsible for this calamity came marching into power with a quirky smile, a silver spoon in his gob and a wet handshake for every willing wimp to shake, be trashed on the side walk as a nation went to the polls not quite sure who the hell to choose.

Well here we have it folks, and it’s of our own making that we are in the boat we find ourselves in, so its no use complaining. When the British public had a chance to democratically put its foot down and demand more from its politicians, they simple sat back and got confused. Yes admittedly even I found myself in a quandary over who to choose, but in such times, a choice must be made and the consequences of those choices accepted.

For many selfish reasons, people close to me supported Labour and Gordon Brown in his fool hardy attempt to run for office once more. Truth be told for many of those, the support of Gordon Brown was folly as they believed that Labour would go easy on Zimbabwean Immigrants, and put a stop on deportations. How misguided that assumption must now look as we see the truth of how deeply Labour and its two chief goons lead us up the garden path.

Let’s be completely frank with each other. Tony Blair and Gordon Brown did not have the average man in the forefront of their minds as they spent for the sake of spending. Even towards the end of the game, when the truth was coming out from the leaking holes in the government infrastructure, Gordon Brown still remained steadfastly stuck on his spending mantra. As a result of this irresponsibility and complete lack of leadership, we now face one of the toughest periods in living memory in the UK.

This is not something that we face alone. The whole developed world has had to look long and hard at itself, and come to the realisation that greed and wilful neglect of duty do not make up for reality. You cannot borrow yourself out of debt. Japan tried that one and nearly failed on numerous occasions. Gordon Brown lead the nation to believe that our economy could recover enough to pay off the debt that he’d amassed in his quantative easing measures designed to stabilise the economy from sinking further into recession. Of all the billions of tax payers pounds that were sunk into the banking sector to stimulate lending and ease the intra bank lending rates, what benefit did the economy or any small business see?

It is common knowledge that industry in the UK is a dying art. The bulk of our economy revolves around service industries, call centres, banking and white collar trade models. We don’t have any world renowned steel mills anymore. Our automotive industry belongs to any other country but Britain. Our ability to build ships, undertake construction or even provide the very service structure our economy thrives on is slowly ebbed from our shores. Just about all forms of heavy industry is undertaken abroad. Call centre and service support industries have farmed out to developing nations where work forces do the job at half the cost. As more and more centres of excellence like Dubai in the UAE and Energy City in Qatar become more appealing as they gear up to become the banking Mecca’s as we move into the second decade of the twenty first century. Don’t tell me for a moment that companies the size of Barclays Bank or HSBC won’t think twice about relocation if suddenly faced with the prospect of massive levies applied by the British Government.

In every way we possibly can we have made it near impossible for our economy to rise up from the ashes of this devastating blow and recover itself. How then could we have possibly paid our way out of recession as Gordon Brown assured us we would? No people, the reality of it was simple. Gordon had realised that he’d never be re-elected to office in the UK. The reality was that Gordon had seen the light at the end of the tunnel was being extinguished by debt, and yet failing to have a spin and lead our proud nation as a man, he failed to call time on Labour’s folly, and instead pulled the plug, spending everything he could just to make sure that who ever took over would look even worse than he.

My anger is not aimed at the Coalition who has had to face a disaster and try to remain positive. No, I do not despise David Cameron for his government’s wide stretching raft of austerity measures. That feeling I harbour only towards the evil men that went before him. I can only hope that for every old person that dies a lonely, hungry, miserable death as a result of these cuts will play on the mind of our esteemed Tony Blair and Gordon Brown and they ponder the folly of their time in office. I can only pray that the blood of all the victims of the crime wave to come will drip loudly in their ears at night as they fight for sleep. I can only hope that the starving child, beaten and abused at the hands of parents driven to depression beyond their abilities will remain vivid in their minds eye each time they pause for thought.

Yes it is at your feet that responsibility lies. No, not completely, as it takes many men to create such mayhem and chaos in modern society. But it was on your watch that the wolf played havoc in the chicken run, and it is time for men to be men and stand up for their lack of leadership, it is time for men to be men and accept the burden of guilt, aye it is time for men to be men and prove that there are still fine gentlemen among us.

My heart cries out for every single genuine person, man, woman and child who’s life is going to be made hell over the next ten years as a result of these measures. I do honestly believe that our government have been bold and brave. Would any one of you liked to have won an election knowing you were going to become the most unpopular government in the last 70 years of British history at no fault of your own? Would any one of you have wanted to walk into government and take over knowing that Gordon Brown was your predecessor and having an inkling of what exactly was to come as you began to get to grips with the shambles you’d been left? Do any of us truly believe that anyone else could have or would have done the job any differently? Let’s be real people. Before today we were living every day in the UK to pay £120 million in interest to service our debt. What else could our government do?

In all honesty as I listen to economists from around the world, every major power is going to have to face a day like today. The US is servicing a debt of several Trillion dollars. Austerity will fall on the shoulders of every American in just the way today it did for British folk. Four years of pain and six years of recovery are far better than ten years of uncertainty and potential bankruptcy.

If you’ve read this and you’re a rich person, or somewhat well off in society, my only message or calling to you is to each day as you survive the effects of the cuts announced today, remember those below you struggling to make ends meet. We are all affected by these measures, others more so than others, and if we are to survive then many of us will never to lend a helping hand to those in desperate need. This is the measure of a true community. This is the mark of a real society, and these are the actions of real people.

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