UK inflation hits 9.1% as prices rise at fastest rate for 40 yearsPrices are continuing to rise at their fastest rate for 40 years as food, energy and fuel costs climb.
UK inflation, the rate at which prices rise, edged up to 9.1% in the 12 months to May, from 9% in April, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.
Food price rises, particular for bread, cereal and meat, were a big factor in the latest rise, the ONS said.
Cost of living pressures have led to unions and workers calling for pay rises.
But the government has warned against employers handing out big increases in salaries over fears of a 1970s style "inflationary spiral", where prices continued to rise as wages went up.
Currently, inflation is at the highest level since March 1982, when it also stood at 9.1% and the Bank of England has warned it will reach 11% this year.
Inflation is the pace at which prices are rising. For example, if a bottle of milk costs £1 and that rises by 5p compared with a year earlier, then milk inflation is 5%.
In a BBC-commissioned survey of more than 4,000 people, 82% said they thought their wages should increase to match the rising price of goods and services.
Households were hit by an unprecedented £700-a-year increase in energy costs in April, and fuel price rises in June mean it costs more than £100 to fill an average family car with petrol.
The ONS said rising prices for food and non-alcoholic beverages helped fuel inflation in May.
Russia's war in Ukraine has severely restricted wheat and maize supplies, which are used to make bread and cereals, from two of the world's biggest exporters.
Ukraine is also a major producer of of sunflower oil, meaning to the costs of alternatives have also climbed.
Market reach firm Kantar has forecast that the average annual grocery bill in the UK is set to rise by £380 this year.
Supermarket Asda told the BBC some shoppers are setting £30 limits at checkouts and petrol pumps, with customers are putting less in their baskets and switching to budget ranges.
Grant Fitzner, chief economist at the ONS, said the prices of goods leaving factories rose at their fastest rate in 45 years in May, driven by "widespread food price rises".
Mr Fitzner added the cost of raw materials "leapt at their fastest rate on record".
But he said the steep rises in food and record high petrol prices in May had been stemmed by the price of clothes rising less than they did this time last year, along with a drop in computer game costs.