Sunak hits inflation goal after Braverman attacks PM before Rwanda ruling

The Supreme Court will deliver its judgment on whether Rishi Sunak’s Rwanda policy is lawful this morning, after Suella Braverman warned he has no credible back-up to “stop the boats”.

A ruling on whether or not the government’s controversial plan to send migrants to Rwanda, which has been under review for  18 months, is expected at around 10am.

Ongoing legal battles have meant there have yet to be any migrants sent to the East African nation under the policy.

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has said the Government would back the Bank of England’s “difficult decisions” on using interest rates to further lower inflation.

He told broadcasters: “The Government has a very important role in bringing down inflation, because we are responsible for the whole fiscal context – a year ago, markets were worried that borrowing and debt were out of control.

“We took difficult decisions to bring that borrowing and debt down.

“As a result of that, we made it easier for the Bank of England to do their job.

“But we will continue to support them with the difficult decisions that they take on interest rates, because the job is not yet done.”

Mr Hunt, who will deliver the Government’s autumn statement next week, said that although the UK is “beginning to win the battle against inflation” there was “lots more work to do”.

An economist has said the latest inflation figures suggest the UK has turned a corner in it’s “battle” against inflation.

“This dramatic drop suggests that the UK has turned the corner in its battle against soaring inflation, particularly given the fall in core inflation, which indicates that underlying price pressures are also easing,” Suren Thiru, economics director at the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, said.

He added that while inflation targets have been made, this is not due to Government action.

He added: “While the Prime Minister has achieved his target to halve inflation this year, this owes more to the downward pressure on prices from falling energy costs and rising interest rates than any Government action.”

The Liberal Democrat Treasury spokeswoman Sarah Olney said the prime minister’s celebration would be “cold comfort” for “hard-working” people.

“Rishi Sunak congratulating himself over today’s figures will be cold comfort for all the hard-working people still bearing the brunt of this Conservative chaos,” she said.

“For months on end, people across the country have been watching as their pay cheque gets squeezed from all sides, draining every spare penny. From the ever-increasing cost of the weekly shop to skyrocketing mortgage payments.”

She added that it was essential that the Government use next week’s autumn statement to properly help families and pensioners.

Rishi Sunak said “hard decisions and fiscal discipline” by his Government had contributed to the fall in inflation.

“Inflation works like a tax. It eats into the pound in your pocket, affecting the price of your food shop, your mortgage, the size of your pension pot,” the Prime Minister said.

“This is why halving inflation has been my number one priority.

“Getting it down has involved hard decisions and fiscal discipline.

“Official figures released this morning confirm we have halved inflation, meeting the first of the five priorities I set out at the beginning of this year.

“While it is welcome news that prices are no longer rising as quickly, we know many people are continuing to struggle, which is why we must stay the course to continue to get inflation all the way back down to 2%.”

Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves said the Government should not be “popping Champagne corks” about the fall in the rate of inflation, with people still struggling with the cost of living.

“The fall in inflation will come as some relief for families struggling with the cost of living,” she said.

“But now is not the time for Conservative ministers to be popping champagne corks and patting themselves on the back.

“After 13 years of economic failure under the Conservatives, working people are worse off with higher mortgage bills, prices still rising in the shops and inflation twice as high as the Bank of England’s target.

“Rishi Sunak is too out of touch and his party is too divided to help people who are worried about the cost of living.

“A Labour government’s priority would be making working people better off by boosting wages, cutting people’s bills and getting the economy growing again.”

Grant Fitzner, chief economist at the Office for National Statistics (ONS), said: “Inflation fell substantially on the month as last year’s steep rise in energy costs has been followed by a small reduction in the energy price cap this year.

“Food prices were little changed on the month, after rising this time last year, while hotel prices fell, both helping to push inflation to its lowest rate for two years.”

The UK’s CPI index has dropped to 4.6% in October, down from 6.7% in September.

This means it has fallen to a two-year low, and means inflation has more than halved since late last year.

A former adviser to both Boris Johnson and David Cameron has been denied entry to Georgia where he was due to meet with officials from a pro-Western opposition party.

Bel Trew and Chris Stevenson report:

Her furious swipe at Rishi Sunak will go down in history, writes John Rentoul, but will it be a fatal blow?

Read John’s full piece here: