the figure which tells us the rate at which prices are rising hit the bank of england s target of 2% in may, coming down from 2.3% in april. our chief economics correspondent dharshini david reports. gary in sussex used to have seven butchers shops. he now has four. forced to make cuts as he s been caught between soaring costs over the last few years and customers with lean budgets looking for value. but things are easing. the price is probably 10 15% more than they were at the beginning of covid, but the actual price of the product is pretty much stationary now. well, we hope it s stationary. it would be nice if it would come down, but i can t see that, not in the foreseeable future anyway. it s global food and energy costs, which triggered the rise in inflation to 11% in 2022, which have also helped it fall to the 2% target, along with the rate rises over the last couple of years. as you may have noticed, the prices of goods are rising more slowly as the impact of the w
the shadow chancellor, rachel reeves, is pledging to invest more than seven billion pounds, to try to unlock further funding from the private sector. meanwhile, the conservatives say labour s policy of banning new licences for oil and gas in the north sea will cost billions in lost tax. labour says its plans to close loopholes in the windfall tax on energy companies, that it says will raise llions. in about an hour, reform uk will release its election manifesto which the party is calling a contract with voters. we ll have more on that in a moment. the liberal democrats are having a day at the beach. while calling for an expansion of fuel duty relief for rural motorists. leader sir ed davey visited a south devon beach taking off his shoes and socks and building sand castles with children and their parents. as we said, nigel farage will launch reform uk s election manifesto in the next hour which the party is calling a contract with voters. reform is promising a freez