and the cost of living crisis that has triggered. but there are signs of hope are starting to emerge. in the last few hours we ve had the latest monthly inflation figures out of spain and that the pace of prices rises fell to an annualised pace of 3.1% in march when using the measure that allows comparison with other countries. that s a big drop from february s 6% and was mainly due to lower energy costs, with food prices also falling. and in germany, europe s biggest economy, there was also a big drop. by the same measure inflation has now fallen to 7.8% as businesses and households benefited from lower natural gas prices. joining me live now is the spanish economist professor santiago carbo valverde, from the university of valencia. what is causing such a big fall in inflation in spain? lowering vat has helped bring down some of the prices of the food and agricultural prost products. we also have what is called a competition or factor. last march, inflation is computed year
support for a penny from colleagues. we had that support from all sides of the party yesterday. and last night borisjohnson put an end to days of speculation about a comeback when he dramatically pulled out of the race saying it would not be the right thing to do . rishi sunak praised johnson for his achievements after he pulled out of the race nominations close at 2pm that s when we should find out whether or not there has to be a ballot of conservative party members or if one person will be moving straight into number ten. we ll be bringing you updates throughout the day. i m lewis vaughan jones some other headlines. the us, britain and france condemn russia s claim that ukraine is preparing to use a radioactive dirty bomb on its own territory. disgraced former hollywood mogul harvey weinstein faces charges of rape and sexual assault in los angeles. opening statements in the case are expected to begin on monday. and david tennant makes a surprise appearance
message is even more stark. the bank of england won t hesitate to raise interest rates if needed. also on the programme. flinching from the constant shelling the struggle for survival on ukraine s front line. in the last few minutes we have been hearing incoming and outgoing shells, every 30 seconds or so. it really doesn t stop. and science fiction made reality as nasa plans to try to divert an asteroid by crashing a rocket into it. and coming up on the bbc news channel. worcester warriors have been suspended from all competitions after failing to meet the deadline set by the rfu to provide evidenced they could continue as a viable business. good evening and welcome to the bbc news at six. the government is under pressure tonight as the financial markets give their verdict on the government s so called mini budget last friday. the value of the pound plunged to an all time low against the us dollar this morning though has since somewhat. and the amount it costs the governme