Disgruntled small business owners have made their feelings clear after a shock inflation rise.
Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed the rate of Consumer Prices Index (CPI) inflation rose to four per cent in December, up from 3.9 per cent in November.
It marks the first increase since February last year.
Business owners at Bury Market joined GB News’s North West reporter Sophie Reaper to assess what the surge means for their shops, with more price rises potentially in the offing.
Small business owners spoke to Sophie Reaper on GB News
GB NEWS
“Inflation has happened since Covid, we’ve seen price rises”, he said.
“Up to now, we’ve managed to hold our prices pretty competitive, but the way things are going, they will have to go up sooner or later.”
Another business owner told Reaper that prices have already gone up for her trade.
She also expressed cynicism at the Government’s attempts to keep inflation down, saying she “doesn’t trust anything” they say.
“Everything they do say, nothing ever seems to come of it”, she said.
“I think inflation does need to come down, I’ve noticed my mortgage has gone up quite a bit and you do worry about what it’s going to be like next time you review your mortgage.”
Jeremy Hunt says the Government’s plan on inflation is working
GB News
Another business owner says inflation surges have “100 per cent” had an impact.
“Obviously though price increases”, he added.
“A lot of the stuff we sell is residual products or underlying products, but probably, in the last two or three years, tripled in price.
“I’d say that’s the effect of Covid.”
Another was more buoyant about the Government’s ability to handle the issue, saying it will “take time” to solve the issues.
“I do trust them, yes”, he added.
The increase in CPI came just hours after Rishi Sunak said the Government had met its pledge to halve inflation and claimed “it has continued to fall”.
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt insisted that the Government’s “plan is working”.
He said: “As we have seen in the US, France and Germany, inflation does not fall in a straight line, but our plan is working and we should stick to it.”
