The rate of inflation has risen by more than expected on the back of fuel and food price pressures, according to official figures which have prompted accusations of an own goal for the chancellor.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported a 3.6% level for the 12 months to June – a pace not seen since January last year.

That was up from the 3.4% rate seen the previous month. Economists had expected no change.

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ONS acting chief economist Richard Heys said: “Inflation ticked up in June driven mainly by motor fuel prices which fell only slightly, compared with a much larger decrease at this time last year.

“Food price inflation has increased for the third consecutive month to its highest annual rate since February of last year. However, it remains well below the peak seen in early 2023.”

A key driver of food inflation has been meat prices.

Beef, in particular, has shot up in cost – by more than 30% over the past year – according to Association of Independent Meat Suppliers data reported by FarmingUK.

High global demand alongside raised production costs have been blamed.

But Kris Hamer, director of insight at the British Retail Consortium, said: “While inflation has risen steadily over the last year, food inflation has seen a much more pronounced increase.

“Despite fierce competition between retailers, the ongoing impact of the last budget and poor harvests caused by the extreme weather have resulted in prices for consumers rising.”

It marked a clear claim that tax rises imposed on employers by Rachel Reeves from April have helped stoke inflation.

Balwinder Dhoot, director of sustainability and growth at the Food and Drink Federation, said: “The pressure on food and drink manufacturers continues to build. With many key ingredients like chocolate, butter, coffee, beef, and lamb, climbing in price – alongside high energy and labour expenses – these rising costs are gradually making their way into the prices shoppers pay at the tills.”

Chancellor Rachel Reeves said of the data: “I know working people are still struggling with the cost of living. That is why we have already taken action by increasing the national minimum wage for three million workers, rolling out free breakfast clubs in every primary school and extending the £3 bus fare cap.

“But there is more to do and I’m determined we deliver on our Plan for Change to put more money into people’s pockets.”

The wider ONS data is a timely reminder of the squeeze on living standards still being felt by many households – largely since the end of the COVID pandemic and subsequent energy-driven cost of living crisis.

Record rental costs alongside elevated borrowing costs – the latter a result of the Bank of England’s action to help keep a lid on inflation – have added to the burden on family budgets.

Most are still reeling from the effects of high energy bills.

The cost of gas and electricity is among the reasons why the pace of price growth for many goods and services remains above a level the Bank would ideally like to see.

Added to that is the toll placed on finances by wider hikes to bills. April saw those for water, council tax and many other essentials rise at an inflation-busting rate.

The inflation figures, along with employment data due tomorrow, are the last before the Bank of England is due to make its next interest rate decision on 7 August.

The vast majority of financial market participants, and many economists, expect a quarter point cut to 4%.

That forecast is largely based on the fact that wider economic data is suggesting a slowdown in both economic growth and the labour market – twin headaches for a chancellor gunning for growth and juggling hugely squeezed public finances.

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Professor Joe Nellis, economic adviser at the advisory firm MHA, said of the ONS data: “This is a reminder that while price rises have slowed from the highs of 2021-23, the battle against inflation is far from over and there is no return to normality yet – especially for many households who are still feeling the squeeze on essentials such as food, energy, and services.

“However, while the Bank of England is expected to take a cautious approach to interest rate policy, we still expect a cut in interest rates when the Monetary Policy Committee next votes on 7th August.

“Despite inflation at 3.6% remaining above the official 2% target, a softening labour market – slowing wage growth and decreasing job vacancies – means that the MPC will predict inflation to begin falling as we head into the new year, justifying the lowering of interest rates.”

An Afghan man who worked for the British military has told Sky News he feels betrayed and has “completely lost (his) mind” after his identity was part of a massive data breach.

He told The World with Yalda Hakim about the moment he discovered he was among thousands of Afghans whose personal details were revealed, putting him at risk of reprisals from the Taliban.

The man, who spoke anonymously to Sky News from Afghanistan, says he worked with British forces for more than 10 years.

But now, he regrets working alongside those troops, who were first deployed to Afghanistan in 2001.

“I have done everything for the British forces … I regret that – why (did) I put my family in danger because of that? Is this justice?

“We work for them, for [the] British, we help them. So now we are left behind, right now. And from today, I don’t know about my future.”

He described receiving an email warning him that his details had been revealed.

He said: “When I saw this one story… I completely lost my mind. I just thought… about my future… my family’s.

“I’ve got two kids. All my family are… in danger. Right now… I’m just completely lost.”

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The mistake by the Ministry of Defence in early 2022 ranks among the worst security breaches in modern British history because of the cost and risk posed to the lives of thousands of Afghans.

On Tuesday, a court order – preventing the media reporting details of a secret relocation programme – was lifted.

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Defence Secretary John Healey said about 6,900 Afghans and their family members have been relocated or were on their way to the UK under the previously secret scheme.

He said no one else from Afghanistan would be offered asylum, after a government review found little evidence of intent from the Taliban to seek retribution.

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But the anonymous Afghan man who spoke to Sky News disputed this. He claimed the Taliban, who returned to power in 2021, were actively seeking people who worked with British forces.

“My family is finished,” he said. “I request… kindly request from the British government… the King… please evacuate us.

“Maybe tomorrow we will not be anymore. Please, please help us.”

The parents of a woman who died after her blood clot was misdiagnosed by someone who she thought was a doctor have called a government-ordered review “a missed opportunity”.

Marion and Brendan Chesterton have welcomed many of the recommendations in Professor Gillian Leng’s review of the role that physician associates (PAs) perform in the NHS, but say “they don’t go far enough”.

Emily, 30, died in November 2022 after suffering a pulmonary embolism. She went to see her GP at a north London surgery twice in the weeks before her death – and on both occasions was seen by a physician associate who missed the blood clot and instead prescribed propranolol for anxiety.

The actress from Salford had told her worried parents that she had been seen by a doctor, but she had not.

Her father Brendan told Sky News: “If she come out and said I’ve seen someone called the physician’s associate I’m sure we would have insisted that, you know, let’s go back and insist that you see a doctor. She never knew.”

Now, a government-ordered review led by Prof Leng, president of the Royal Society of Medicine, has recommended NHS physician associates should be banned from diagnosing patients who have not already had contact with a doctor for their illness.

The report suggests a major change to the role of PAs after it acknowledged they have been used as substitutes for doctors, despite having significantly less training.

More than 3,500 PAs and 100 anaesthesia associates (AAs) are working in the NHS and there have been previous calls for an expansion in their number.

But a general lack of support for the roles from the medical profession – plus high-profile deaths of patients who were misdiagnosed by PAs – led Health Secretary Wes Streeting to order a review.

Presenting her findings, Prof Leng said: “Crucially I’m recommending that PAs should not see undifferentiated or untriaged patients.

“If (patients) are triaged, they (PAs) should be able to see adult patients with minor ailments in line with relevant guidance from the Royal College of GPs.”

She said more detail was needed on which patients can be seen by PAs and national clinical protocols should be developed in this area.

She added: “Let’s be clear, (the role of PAs) is working well in some places, but there indeed has been some substitution and any substitution is clearly risky and confusing for patients.”

Prof Leng also recommended PAs should be renamed “physician assistants” to position them “as a supportive, complementary member of the medical team” – and have standardised uniforms to distinguish them from doctors – while AAs should be renamed “physician assistants in anaesthesia”.

Newly qualified PAs should also work in hospitals for two years before they are allowed to work in GP surgeries or mental health trusts.

The report said that while research suggests patients are satisfied after seeing a PA, some did not know they were not seeing a doctor.

Prof Leng concluded there were “no convincing reasons to abolish the roles of AA or PA”, but there is also no case “for continuing with the roles unchanged”.

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She recommended that both PAs and AAs should have the opportunity for ongoing training and development, with potential to prescribe medicines in the future, and they should also have the opportunity to become an “advanced” PA or AA.

Six patient deaths linked to contact with PAs have been recorded by coroners in England.

Emily’s mother Marion said some of the review’s findings were significant and her daughter would still be alive if the recommendations had been in place when she fell ill.

She said: “I think so, yes, which is so important, which is why we’re so pleased that this review has been made.”

But Mrs Chesterton added that more could have done, including stopping all PAs from prescribing drugs.

“We feel it’s a missed opportunity. It could have gone all the way there and cleared things up totally. Our daughter died. She was prescribed a drug that she should not have been prescribed. And it had absolutely catastrophic circumstances. She died for goodness sake.”

The Chestertons’ concerns are shared by the British Medical Association (BMA).

Dr Emma Runswick, BMA’s deputy chair, said: “It is definitely a problem that the roles of doctors and now physician assistants has been blurred and it’s positive that their name is going to change, that there will be a uniform.

“But whilst they continue to be deployed in a way that mimics doctors at the behest of any local employer decision, we have to have ongoing concerns about their safety.”

But UMAPs, the trade union which represents both PAs and AAs, has warned the changes will undermine their qualifications and their role, lengthen waiting lists and worsen the impact of any strike action.

“By trying to placate them, at a time when they’re striking – and they want their strikes to bite the hardest by taking us out of the workforce – we’re now putting patients at risk,” said Steve Nash, general secretary of UMAPs.

“I think the biggest patient safety risk, out there right now, is the BMA,” he added.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting, who ordered this review, is expected to implement all the recommendations of the report.