WORKING people need a credible plan from the government to protect their living standards, the TUC urged today after the latest inflation figures showed that households can expect further misery.

Consumer prices index (CPI) inflation remained at 8.7 per cent in May compared with the predicted drop of 8.4 per cent, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

And CPI including housing costs (CPIH) rose to 7.9 per cent, up from 7.8 per cent in April.

The figures mean that an average shopping bill would cost £108.70  — compared to around £100 a year ago.

Sugar, olive oil, cheese and curd, pasta and fish were among items hit by soaring prices in May, with sugar inflation at 49.8 per cent.

Experts said that the inflation figure will heap extra financial pressure on households, and that those with mortgages are likely to face rising interest rates as a result.

Figures from the Money Advice Trust show that since March 2022 the number of adults who are behind on one or more household bill has risen from 7.9 million to 11.6m.

The news is likely to put more pressure on interest rates too, with the Bank of England expected to meet tomorrow, meaning that those with mortgages or debit could face more pressures in their repayments.

Economist Karen Ward, who advises Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, claimed that the Bank has to “create a recession” to force large numbers into unemployment, to control inflation and interrupt a so-called wage-price spiral where companies put prices up, forcing workers to ask for pay rises, which means companies increase prices further to pay for those new salaries.

But TUC general secretary Paul Nowak said that wage rises are not causing inflation, with real pay lagging far behind “where it needs to be even to get living standards back to where they were over a decade ago.”

He said: “After more than a decade of pay stagnation, working people are still getting poorer every month.

“Pushing interest rates so high that the economy is driven into recession will only make the current crisis worse.

“What working people need is a credible plan for sustainable growth, to get living standards and public finances back on track.”

GMB general secretary Gary Smith said that the government was “out of ideas” on the economy, adding: “Workers are suffering the steepest real-terms cuts in living memory, and enormous economic damage is being done because people can’t afford to pay the bills.

“Across the country, people are paying the price for the government’s failure to invest in our essential infrastructure and the UK’s fatal embrace of a low wage and low investment economic model.”

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said that “in the real world of workers and their families” people continue to “feel the pain of their wages trailing behind escalating prices.”

She said the union remains focused on fighting for workers and their pay, already winning £350 million put back in the pockets of its members.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer told Commons that the government is responsible for “economic vandalism.”

He said: “I am sure from the vantage point of [Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s] helicopter everything might look fine, but that’s not the lived experience of those on the ground.”

Mr Sunak claimed that the government was “on track to keep reducing” inflation.

He acknowledged inflation was “putting pressure on family budgets” but argued his administration had taken “decisive action” to support people.

But SNP economy spokesperson Stewart Hosie warned that people were “paying an unacceptable price for Westminster failure.”

The ONS also revealed that Britain’s debt pile reached £2.6 trillion at the end of May, exceeding 100 per cent of GDP for the first time since 1961.