“The plan is working,” is how Rishi Sunak greeted Wednesday’s news of a fall in the rate of inflation. “If we stick to the plan I’ve set out, we’ll get it done.”
Up to a point, prime minister. Mr Sunak’s “plan” is really nothing of the sort. It is an aspiration to halve the rate by which prices are rising rather than, as is commonly assumed, for prices to fall. And he wants to do this without a hand raised by any of his ministers. It is not the business secretary, Kemi Badenoch, who controls oil and gas prices, but traders in commodity markets – and rather than watching Whitehall, they have their eyes peeled for moves by Vladimir Putin or Opec. It is not Jeremy Hunt at the Treasury who sets interest rates, but Andrew Bailey and his colleagues at the Bank of England. And the people of Threadneedle Street may be alarmed by core inflation, which strips out volatile items such as food and fuel, remaining stubbornly high. With only four months before his self-imposed deadline, this looks like one life goal the man in No 10 will miss.
