May’s figures are the last big official economic statistics before the general election campaign and will spark significant debate among the main parties.
The Conservatives will hope the figures can help their story of an economic turnaround.
But Labour continue to press concerns about an ongoing cost of living crisis.
Food prices are still 25% higher than at the beginning of 2022 and petrol prices are now on the way up again.
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said May’s figure showed that “the difficult decisions that we’ve taken have paid off”.
“That would not have happened under Labour that refused to condemn the public sector pay strikes, that would have meant inflationary pay rises, inflation lasting longer,” he added.
But Rachel Reeves, Labour’s shadow chancellor, said: “Unlike Conservative ministers, I’m not going to claim that everything is all fine, that the cost of living crisis is over, because I know that pressures on family finances are still acute”.
Liberal Democrat Treasury spokeswoman Sarah Olney said: “The hard truth is that millions of people won’t be feeling any better off today, thanks to years of Conservative economic mismanagement.
“Rishi Sunak’s boasts will ring hollow to countless families seeing their mortgages skyrocket and agonising rises in shopping prices compared to just a few years ago.”
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