The SNP and trade union leaders have warned there is "no end in sight" for the cost of living crisis as food prices will continue to rise at near record pace.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the food Consumer Prices Index (CPI) is at 19.3 per cent.
This is the second highest for 45 years and was down only slightly on March’s eye-watering 19.6 per cent.
Overall inflation has eased back to its lowest level since March last year but remained higher than expected. It fell to 8.7 per cent in April, down from 10.1 per cent in March.
This is the first time inflation has been in single digits since last August. But it was higher than forecast by economists, who had pencilled in a drop to 8.2 per cent in April.
The SNP said the cost of food is "increasingly unaffordable" while unions warned the cost of living crisis is far from ending.
The party's economy spokesperson Stewart Hosie said: "Any slight dip in the UK's sky-high inflation is to be welcomed but prices are still soaring - and the cost of living under Westminster control is still far too high for many families, who were already struggling to get by after thirteen years of Tory cuts, Brexit, and economic mismanagement.
"Under the Tories, the majority of families in the UK are worse off as wages fall behind the increasingly unaffordable cost of food, housing, bills and everyday essentials - showing exactly why Scotland needs to escape Westminster control as an independent country."
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Falling inflation does not mean we’ve reached a turning point where things can only get better.
“In the real world there’s no end in sight to the cost-of-living crisis.
“The cost of food is now reaching record highs – driven of course by rampant profiteering by the supermarkets, in particular.
“Until profiteering is challenged there can be no respite from continuing inflation.”
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