12.12.201723:37:00UTC+00UK Inflation Rises to 3.1% in November as Prices Surge

British inflation suddenly increased to its highest level in almost six years in November, which tightens the post-Brexit vote squeeze on households.

According to a report from the Office for National Statistics, the annual rate of change in the consumer price index increased to 3.1 percent in November.

Figures from the ONS revealed dearer computer games and a smaller November decline in airfares than the previous year as the main factors behind an increase in the consumer price index measure of inflation from three percent in October.

Recent data also showed that average weekly wages are growing at only 2.2 percent.

Inflation has been the clearest economic effect of Britain's vote in 2016 to leave the EU. A drop in the value of the pound against the currencies of the country's main trading partners has led to higher import prices, which has fed through to consumer prices.

Since inflation is over a percentage point above the Bank of England's 2-percent target, Governor Mark Carney will have to write a letter to finance minister Philip Hammond in February to explain what the BoE is doing in response.

Carney is seen to attribute the rise in inflation on the overshoot on the depreciation in sterling and will add that inflation will come back towards its target during 2018 as the impact of the weaker pound fades.

In November, the BoE raised its key interest rate for the first time in more than a decade from 0.25 percent to 0.5 percent.

However, it is not expected to announce a further hike when it releases the results of the Monetary Policy Committee's two-day meeting on Thursday.