The rate of price rises has dropped to 7.9% in the year up to June, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
The consumer price index (CPI) measure of inflation shows prices are still rising, just at a slower pace than before, as the rate fell from 8.7% in the year to May.
Another measure of inflation, closely watched by the Bank of England when deciding whether to increase interest rates, also fell.
Core inflation – the rate of price rises that excludes food and fuel – dropped to 6.9%. The rate had been increasing since January this year.
The majority of analysts now expected that the Bank will only increase the base interest rate to 5.25% early next month. Prior to the inflation announcement an increase to 5.5% was seen as the most likely outcome.
Also changed since Wednesday morning’s inflation data is the high the base interest rate might reach. It had been expected to top 6% but is now estimated to peak at 5.75%.
Interest rates have been hiked 13 times in a row in an effort to dampen economic activity, take money out of the economy by increasing savings, and bring inflation down to 2%.
More on Cost Of Living
Related Topics:
A higher rate set by the Bank means more expensive borrowing and higher mortgage bills.
Economists had thought core inflation would remain stuck at the same level as the month before – 7.1% – and that CPI would only fall to 8.2%.
Advertisement
But falling petrol and diesel costs, and a slowing down in food price rises, led to the surprise drop.
The rate of food inflation fell to 17.3% in June from 18.3% in May.
Also falling was the cost of raw materials – they dropped 2.7% in price – the first time they’ve actually become cheaper since late 2020, the ONS said.
The price of goods leaving factories grew 0.1%, down from a rise of 2.7%.
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said: “Inflation is falling and stands at its lowest level since last March; but we aren’t complacent and know that high prices are still a huge worry for families and businesses.
“The best and only way we can ease this pressure and get our economy growing again is by sticking to the plan to halve inflation this year.”
Two missing sisters in Aberdeen made an earlier visit to the bridge where they were last seen hours before they disappeared, CCTV footage has revealed.
Police Scotland said a text message was also sent to the women’s landlady on the morning they vanished, indicating they would not be returning to the flat.
Eliza and Henrietta Huszti, both aged 32, were last spotted in the city’s Market Street at Victoria Bridge at about 2.12am on Tuesday 7 January.
The siblings – who are part of a set of triplets and originally from Hungary – were seen crossing the bridge and turning right on to a footpath next to the River Dee in the direction of Aberdeen Boat Club.
In an update on Friday, Police Scotland said the sisters were seen at the same bridge at around 2.50pm on Monday 6 January – around 12 hours before they were last seen.
The force said the siblings, who were both wearing rucksacks, spent five minutes at the footpath and the Victoria Bridge but did not engage with anyone else.
More on Aberdeen
Related Topics:
Officers are now appealing for anyone who may have seen the sisters at this earlier time to come forward.
After visiting the bridge, the women were then seen on CCTV making their way through the city centre, via Union Square shopping centre, back to their flat in the Charlotte Street area.
Police Scotland said there is “nothing to indicate” that the siblings left their flat again until shortly before they were last seen at the River Dee in the early hours of the following morning.
A text message was sent from Henrietta’s mobile phone to their landlady at the same time they were last seen, indicating they would not be returning to the flat.
The phone was then disconnected from the network and has not been active since.
The following day, the sisters’ personal belongings were found inside in the flat and the landlady reported her concerns to police.
Superintendent David Howieson said: “We have carried out a significant trawl of public and private CCTV footage as we try to establish the sisters’ movements.
“We have had a positive response from the public to our appeals and I would like to thank everyone who has already come forward.
“I would again urge anyone with any information which could help find Eliza and Henrietta to get in touch.
“We remain in regular contact with Eliza and Henrietta’s family in Hungary and we will continue to provide them with support at this very difficult time.
“Searches will continue in the coming days and our officers will continue to do everything they can to find Eliza and Henrietta.”
The search team has included specialist advisers, emergency service partners, a police helicopter, and the force’s dog branch and marine unit.
Police Scotland previously said there has been “no evidence” of the missing sisters leaving the immediate area.
Officers are keeping an open mind about what happened to the women but said they have not found anything to suggest any “suspicious circumstances or criminality”.
It previously emerged the sisters did not tell their relatives they were “immediately” going to move out of their rented flat.
The man who served 14 years in jail for the murder of schoolboy Jimmy Mizen has been recalled to prison for breaching his licence conditions.
It follows reporting in The Sun newspaper that Jake Fahri, 35, was a drill rapper releasing music under the name TEN, who conceals his identity with a balaclava, and was played on BBC 1Xtra.
A Probation Service spokesperson said: “Our thoughts are with Jimmy Mizen’s family who deserve better than to see their son’s murderer shamelessly boasting about his violent crime.”
Jimmy’s father Barry told Sky News: “We’re not gloating or anything, in a way it’s quite sad.”
His son bled to death after Fahri threw an oven dish at him in a south London bakery on 10 May 2008.
The dish shattered on his chin and severed an artery in the schoolboy’s neck.
Fahri was 19 when he was given a life sentence in 2009 with a minimum term of 14 years and was released on licence in June 2023.
More from UK
His music was played on BBC 1Xtra less than 18 months later, the Sun reported, adding that DJ Theo Johnson named him an “up-and-coming star”.
Jimmy’s father earlier said he and his wife Margaret were “stunned into silence” when they were told about Fahri’s music, which often features violent themes.
In one song, which appears to reference Jimmy’s death, he raps about “sharpening” a blade.
“Judge took a look at me, before the trial even started he already knows he’s gonna throw the book at me,” the lyrics say.
Another track includes the lines: “See a man’s soul fly from his eyes and his breath gone… I wanted more, it made it less wrong. Seeing blood spilled same floor he was left on.”
The BBC has said the artist’s tracks do not feature on any BBC playlists, and that a track which appeared to reference Jimmy’s death had never been played on its channels.
A spokesman for the broadcaster added there were “no further plans to play his music”, adding: “We were not aware of his background and we in no way condone his actions.”
A Probation Service spokesperson said: “All offenders released on licence are subject to strict conditions. As this case shows, we will recall them to prison if they break the rules.”
Jimmy’s parents founded the Mizen Foundation after their son’s death. The charity helps young people in London who are escaping violence.
Mr Mizen said: “It appears that if he’s been recalled to prison, he must’ve breached his licence conditions
The man suspected of abducting Madeleine McCann won’t face any charges in the foreseeable future, a prosecutor has told Sky News.
German drifter Christian B, who cannot be fully identified under his country’s privacy law, is expected to be freed from an unrelated jail sentence this year while police in three countries continue to search for evidence against him.
Prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters said: “There is currently no prospect of an indictment in the Maddie case.
“As things stand, the accused Christian B’s imprisonment will end in early September.”
Madeleine, aged three, was asleep with her younger twin siblings in the family’s Portuguese rented holiday apartment before mother Kate discovered her missing at around 10pm on 3 May, 2007.
Her parents were dining nearby on the complex with friends and taking turns to check on all their sleeping children every half an hour.
Madeleine’s disappearance has become the world’s most mysterious missing child case.
Philipp Marquort, one of Christian B’s defence lawyers, welcomed the prosecutor’s pessimism about bringing charges.
He said: “This confirms the suspicions that we have repeatedly expressed, namely that there is no reliable evidence against our client.
“We regret that we have not yet been granted access to the investigation files. We have not yet been able to effectively counter the public prejudice arising from statements made by the prosecutor’s office.”
Christian B, 47, is in jail and coming to the end of his sentence for the rape of an elderly American woman in Praia da Luz, the Portuguese resort where Madeleine disappeared.
In October, he was acquitted on a series of rape and indecent assault charges after a non-jury trial in Germany, in which several references were made to his status as the main suspect in the Madeleine case.
The prosecutor said he was awaiting the court’s written judgment before launching an appeal against the acquittal. He believes the trial judges were biased against the prosecution.
If successful, he could apply for a new arrest warrant for Christian B to keep him in custody until a retrial with new judges.
He said: “We hope that the Federal Court of Justice will decide before the end of the accused’s imprisonment. If the Federal Court follows our legal opinion, we could apply for a new arrest warrant for the accused’s offences, so that the accused would then remain in custody beyond September 2025.
Mr Marquort said the defence team would oppose the prosecution’s appeal against the acquittal.
Prosecutor Mr Wolters has said in the past that he believes Madeleine is dead and that Christian B was responsible for her death. The suspect denies any involvement.
The case against Christian B is purely circumstantial; he’s alleged to have confessed to a friend that he abducted Madeleine, he has convictions for sex crimes against children, he was living in the area at the time, his mobile phone was close by when the young girl vanished and he re-registered one of his vehicles the next day.
The prosecutor won’t say what evidence he has to convince him Madeleine is dead, but he admitted he is still trying to find forensic evidence to link Christian B to the girl.
Jim Gamble, former head of the UK Child Exploitation and Online Protection centre, said he had expected the prosecutor to charge Christian B soon.
“He’s implied the whole way through that he has something more than the public are aware of,” he said.
“He’s made fairly definitive statements about whether Madeleine is alive or dead so you would expect their strategy to have been to charge him sooner rather than later.
“From what he’s said today I wonder if we’re witnessing the re-positioning of something to manage the disappointment that’ll come.”
Mr Wolters, who is based in Braunschweig, Lower Saxony, is investigating the case with the help of Portuguese police and detectives from Scotland Yard.