31%: The surge in food prices irking voters in the UK election
Al JazeeraThe cost of living is a key issue in an election expected to end 14 years of Conservative Party governance. While inflation has finally returned to the central bank’s target of 2 percent after hitting double-digit highs in 2022 and 2023, people are still paying much more for essentials, including food, than they were just a few years ago. Food prices today are about 31 percent higher than they were three years ago, according to data from the Office for National Statistics. Gross domestic product per capita grew by just 4.3 percent from 2007 to 2023, compared with 46 percent growth over the previous 16 years, according to research by the Resolution Foundation think tank. Economists have put forward several explanations for the UK’s especially high inflation, including a greater reliance on imported food, its heavy dependence on gas and labour shortages stemming from the pandemic.