The cost-of-living crisis will ultimately eclipse Partygate

Wage growth is undershooting inflation in the official figures – and this is just the start of the problems, writes James Moore

Eaten up by inflation: the cost-of-living crisis is starting to bite (EPA)

Partygate rumbles on and Boris Johnson is clinging on, with increasing desperation, but the biggest issue for him – or his eventual successor – will be the cost-of-living crisis.

The latest official figures showed job vacancies at record levels, and 29.5 million in work and on payrolls at the end of November, an increase of 409,000 on pre-pandemic levels. Obviously this is welcome.

The trouble is, they also showed wage rises falling below the rate of inflation. Earnings grew at an annual rate of 4.2 per cent in November, compared with an annual rate of inflation of 5.1 per cent. That’s a 0.9 per cent pay cut for the nation in real terms.