THE Shadow Financial Secretary has welcomed today’s fall in inflation but warned that public sector pay rises could push the figure up in future.

Nigel Huddleston MP said on GB News: “It’s obviously good news that inflation is falling again. Of course, a lot of the dynamics of the economy mean that inflation figures are coming down largely as a result of the work of the previous government.

“What this government’s been doing with inflation-busting pay rises, for example, might compromise the direction of travel there.

“But it’s good news, because, of course, this was a key strategy and key target of the last government and we had to make difficult decisions in order to bring inflation down.

“I welcome the numbers, but I fear what may come next.”

Asked if Rishi Sunak jumped the gun by calling a snap General Election, he said: “There was never a good time to call an election. At the end of the day, we’re going through a lot of soul searching at the moment as to why we lost the last election.

“The economy was one aspect of it, but let’s be clear, there were a lot of other factors why the British public were frustrated with us, and we’re in a listening mode at the moment to understand that.

“I am glad that these figures have come down. I do want to welcome good news in the economy, because, after all, this government has done nothing but talk the UK economy down since they came to power, which itself is causing damage.

“I welcome these figures. This is good news for the UK economy. But let’s be clear, this is not a result of government policy, current government policy.”

He added: “There’s a black hole, or the government’s calling it a black hole, because of political choices they are making about the spending decisions they themselves are making.

“We had budgets. Jeremy Hunt had budgets, and we had forecasts, and we worked with the OBR to make sure that we spent within our means. That’s the point of having fiscal events.

“This government, since they came to power, has had a £10 billion splurge on inflation-busting pay increases, spent billions of pounds on GB Energy, billions of pounds on a national wealth fund, and a whole bunch of other announcements and measures.

“If there is a black hole, let’s be clear, it’s of their own making. We’re talking about billions of pounds out of a total government spending of £1.2 trillion as well. This is all in the context of decisions that a government makes about its tax and spending plans.

“Even if there was a multi-billion pound black hole that they said that they inherited, then why dig that hole deeper with all of these additional spending commitments? It shows utter incompetence by this government and this Chancellor.”