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| Version 0 | Version 1 |
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| UK inflation rate increases to 3% | UK inflation rate increases to 3% |
| (10 minutes later) | |
| The UK's rate of inflation jumped to 3% in December, according to the latest set of official figures. | The UK's rate of inflation jumped to 3% in December, according to the latest set of official figures. |
| The rise in the Consumer Prices Index, up from a rate of 2.7% in November, was at the top end of expectations. | The rise in the Consumer Prices Index, up from a rate of 2.7% in November, was at the top end of expectations. |
| The increase, taking the rate to an 11-year high - had been widely expected following last week's shock rise in UK interest rates to 5.25%. | |
| The Retail Prices Index, which includes mortgage interest payments, rose to 4.4% in December from 3.9%. | |
| The RPI figure - which is often used as a basis for wage demands - is now at its highest level since 1991. | |
| Petrol costs | |
| The Office for National Statistics said the largest upward impact on prices in December came from transport costs. | |
| These were increased by rising petrol prices and the fuel duty increase unveiled by Gordon Brown in the pre-Budget report. | |
| The Bank of England is tasked with keeping CPI inflation at the government's target rate of 2%, but it has now exceeded this level for eight months in a row. | |
| If CPI inflation should rise above 3%, the Bank's governor Mervyn King would have to write a letter of explanation to the government - the first time since the Bank gained independence in 1997. |