Rachel Reeves welcomes today’s drop in inflation but rejects claims it shows the Conservative government’s plans are working. Speaking in Swindon on the day the Office for National Statistics reported inflation fell to 2% in May (down from 2.3% in April) – Rachel Reeves said families continue to struggle with higher household bills during the cost-of-living crisis. Report by Brooksl. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn
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00:00Well, it's welcome that inflation has returned to target.
00:03This is the first time in almost three years
00:05that inflation has been at its target
00:07after reaching more than 11%.
00:10But unlike the Conservatives, I'm
00:11not going to claim that everything
00:13is fine in the economy and that the cost of living crisis
00:16is over.
00:17I know for many families and pensioners,
00:19the cost of living crisis is still acute
00:22because those higher prices, whether it
00:24be rents, mortgages, food prices, or energy bills,
00:28are locked in.
00:29And people are still struggling with their bills.
00:32The choice of the next election is between five more
00:34years of the Conservatives, more chaos,
00:37making working families worse off,
00:39or Labour's plans to grow the economy to make
00:42working people better off.
00:43I don't think the economy has turned a corner.
00:46Many people are still really struggling
00:48because although inflation is back at target
00:51and that is welcome, of course, it
00:52doesn't mean that any of those price rises have been undone.
00:56Price rises have been very severe in the last few years.
01:01The cost of the weekly food shop up almost 30%
01:05since the last general election.
01:07People are looking to remortgage this year,
01:09paying more than £200 a month more on their mortgage
01:12because of the Conservatives' mini-budget
01:14less than two years ago that crashed the economy
01:16and sent mortgage rates soaring.
01:18So the Conservatives might want to say everything's OK.
01:21But I know for many people right across our country,
01:24they're still struggling with the cost of living.