Cost of living crisis to enter 'new phase' with food price 'shock' warning

18 May 2023 , 23:01

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Food inflation is at a 50 year high, and could go up even further (Image: Getty Images)

Food prices will soon overtake energy bills as the cost of living crisis enters a "new phase", a worrying new study warns today.

Households will soon be paying an average of £1,000 more on food each year compared to before the Covid pandemic, experts fear - compared to £900 more on energy.

Food inflation has already reached a 50 year high this year, and researchers from the Resolution Foundation think tank say it will get even worse in the coming months.

Lower income families will be worst hit, as they often already buy cheaper products so will have less space for savings.

Economist Lalitha Try warned that politicians do not seem to have grasped how serious the problem is.

Shop prices 'are yet to peak and will remain high' as inflation hits new heights

Politicians haven't grasped the scale of the problem, the Resolution Foundation says (Jon Super/PA Wire)

She said: “Everyone realises food prices are rising, but it’s less clear that the scale of the increases has been understood in Westminster.

"This summer the food price shock to family finances is set to overtake that from energy bills. What remains consistent is that those on low-to-middle incomes are worst affected.

"The cost of living crisis isn’t ending, it’s just entering a new phase.”

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It comes after tone-deaf ex-Tory MP Ann Widdecombe, asked about the rise in the cost of a cheese sandwich, said: “Because we have been decades without inflation we have come to regard it as some sort of given right that our food doesn’t go up.”

And Tory MP Brendan Clarke-Smith said people should buy value beans to cut costs.

A study published today found that most people now spend 13% of their income on food, compared to 5% before Covid.

It found hat 61% of the poorest households have cut back on food and other essentials, compared to 35% among the richest fifth of homes.

The Resolution Foundation said: "Poorer households, who are more likely to already be purchasing the cheapest products, are also less able to respond to rising food prices by changing what they purchase."

In March food inflation hit a massive 19.1%, and it is thought this may still continue to rise.

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Dave Burke