by Felicity Collier

INFLATION rose to its highest level in two-and-a-half years, hitting 1.6 per cent last month, official figures revealed yesterday.

The Consumer Price Index figure is up from 1.2 per cent in November and is greater than the forecast 1.4 per cent. A sharp rise in air fares and food bills contributed to the rise.

As Prime Minister Theresa May pledged a parliamentary vote on Britain’s Brexit negotiations yesterday, the pound rose 1 per cent against the dollar at £1.218 and was up 0.3 per cent against the euro, at £1.138.

But the Institute for Fiscal Studies has warned that workers’ wages will be hit, with employees standing to earn less in real wages in 2021 than they did in 2008, before the economic crisis hit.

Shadow chief secretary to the Treasury Rebecca Long-Bailey said: “Working people deserve better than this. “The Tories boast about economic growth but our rigged system mean it’s an elite who benefit. Today’s inflation figures mean people will be facing a squeeze on their pay on top of the six wasted years of flat and falling living standards under the Tories.”

General union Unite is supporting workers in their fight for fair pay and seeking to protect wages against inflation with an unprecedented new online database launched yesterday.

The online tool will give union negotiators unparalleled access to pay data for their region and their industrial sector.

The union said that pay negotiations between the workforce and management are largely agreed constructively, but it has built up a £35 million fund to support workers should their pay come under attack and there is the need to take strike action.

The union said its online tool, covering pay deals at 32,000 workplaces across Britain, would give workers more power at the bargaining table with employers.

General secretary Len McCluskey said: “Unite has launched a powerful new online tool to help workers across Britain protect themselves from inflation and attacks on their pay following the fallout from the Brexit vote.

“It is the first time the trade union movement has developed such a comprehensive database of pay deals to help workers drive forward a co-ordinated pay strategy.”

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