UK inflation eases for first time in five months to 3.6% before crunch budget

Grocery stall at Borough Market in London. The ONS said annual inflation as measured by CPI cooled to 3.6% in October. Photograph: PjrTravel/Alamy

UK inflation fell to 3.6% in October, easing the path for the Bank of England to cut interest rates after the chancellor Rachel Reeves’s make-or-break budget next week.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said annual inflation as measured by the consumer prices index cooled for the first time in five months, falling back from a peak of 3.8% over July, August and September.