{"id":849587,"date":"2026-09-16T08:56:19","date_gmt":"2026-09-16T08:56:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/849587\/"},"modified":"2026-09-16T08:56:19","modified_gmt":"2026-09-16T08:56:19","slug":"petrol-and-diesel-price-rises-push-uk-inflation-rate-up-to-3-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/849587\/","title":{"rendered":"Petrol and diesel price rises push UK inflation rate up to 3.1%"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.files.bbci.co.uk\/core\/website\/assets\/static\/news\/incident-types\/light-mode\/analysis.77b314ef10.svg\" alt=\"Analysis\" height=\"2.5rem\" width=\"9.8125rem\" draggable=\"false\" class=\"ssrcss-h608ny-ContributorImageComponent e2hr5uu0\"\/>Inflation figures underscore the challenge facing PM and chancellorpublished at 09:49 BST<\/p>\n<p>09:49 BST<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1l98ssq-Contributor etflsgg2\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/34ffac2f-7f37-4fd4-a556-a1061819b8d0.jpg.webp\" width=\"64\" height=\"64\" class=\"ssrcss-egie1y-Image edrdn950\"\/>Henry Zeffman<br \/>Chief political correspondent<\/p>\n<p>      <img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Andy Burnham and John Healey are pictured sitting together, both wearing suits and ties. There is a black background behind them with the word 'North' on it.\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/825be1ea-4f5f-43ad-90e1-8bf587287a0f.jpg.webp\"  width=\"1330\" height=\"748\" class=\"ssrcss-egie1y-Image edrdn950\"\/>Image source, ReutersImage caption, <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Prime Minister Andy Burnham, left, and Chancellor John Healey<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Today\u2019s inflation figures underscore that the economy is the biggest challenge facing Andy Burnham.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">It is only 42 days until John Healey\u2019s first Budget, and there is increasingly apparent concern at all levels of the government and Labour Party about how that Budget can \u2013 or, as it may prove, cannot \u2013 substantiate Burnham\u2019s rhetoric about offering the biggest change in British politics in 40 years.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Much of the tricky economic environment, yes, is driven by global factors including the persistence of the conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">And the AI boom pushing up borrowing costs is another issue affecting many countries.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">But there are clearly domestic factors particular to Britain, and on that front it was very striking to hear the former Bank of England chief economist Andy Haldane telling LBC yesterday that without signs of cuts to public spending \u201cthe markets now suspect that this is a traditional tax and spend socialist government with better TikTok videos\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">From somebody who at times has informally advised Burnham\u2019s operation, that will sting, not least because a similar criticism has been voiced in recent weeks by Lord O\u2019Neill \u2013 another sometime adviser.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">On the other hand, some around Burnham will feel that a desire to signal to the markets that this was not a traditional Labour government was part of Keir Starmer\u2019s demise, for example with the eye-catching removal of the Winter Fuel Allowance for most pensioners.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">For Burnham and Healey, the challenge is to prove that there are ways of soothing the markets which are not politically undeliverable for a Labour prime minister and chancellor.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">We&#8217;re ending our live coverage. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Inflation figures underscore the challenge facing PM and chancellorpublished at 09:49 BST 09:49 BST Henry ZeffmanChief political correspondent&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":849588,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[28,101],"class_list":["post-849587","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-economy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/849587","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=849587"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/849587\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/849588"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=849587"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=849587"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=849587"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}