RISING fuel costs have kept Britain’s inflation at 6.7 per cent, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said today, a rate that unions called “painfully high.” 

The ONS blamed higher petrol and diesel prices for last month’s consumer prices index inflation rate remaning the same as in August.

Experts had predicted that inflation would dip to 6.6 per cent, but soaring fuel costs offset month-on-month drops in food prices.

ONS chief economist Grant Fitzner said: “After last month’s fall, annual inflation was unchanged in September.

“Food and non-alcoholic drinks prices eased again across a range of items, with the cost of household appliances and air fares also falling this month.

“These were offset by rising prices for motor fuels and the cost of hotel stays.”

The ONS said fuel prices jumped 3.6 per cent from August, as supply restrictions in the Middle East caused oil costs to increase.

The current crisis in Israel and the Gaza Strip has caused European natural gas prices to soar to an eight-month high and US oil giant Chevron halted production at its offshore Tamar site near Israel’s northern coast last week.

End Fuel Poverty Coalition co-ordinator Simon Francis said: “Any global uncertainty tends to lead to higher energy bills because Britain’s broken energy system is so reliant on global market prices to set the price we pay.

“While analysts are not expecting to see huge changes in domestic energy prices at the moment, the longer conflict continues and the more wholesale prices increase, the more likely it is that we will see another rise in bills.”

Pranesh Narayanan of the Institute for Public Policy Research said: “Oil prices are slowing down the fight against the cost-of-living crisis.

“While this isn’t likely to stop inflation falling in the medium term, it does highlight the benefits of transitioning to a renewable and low-carbon economy.

“The less dependent we are on fossil fuels, the more protected we are from volatile oil and gas markets.”

The price of “some everyday staples rising faster than overall food inflation,” warned Sue Davies, head of food policy at consumers’ comparison website Which?

High-profile industrial disputes also remain unresolved, including on the railways and in the NHS and higher education, with Britain suffering the highest rate of inflation in the G7, according to TUC analysis.

General secretary Paul Nowak stressed that the country is “teetering on the brink of recession,” with employment falling as companies scramble to cut costs.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham warned that millions face the prospect of choosing between heating and eating again this winter due to the cost-of-living crisis, adding: “Headline inflation is still painfully high.”

Usdaw general secretary Paddy Lillis said that the retail prices index rate of inflation, which takes housing costs into account, is a better measure for ordinary people and “remains higher than average wage growth,” having fallen to 8.9 per cent last month from 9.1 per cent in August.