Big fall in UK inflation to 3.1%

Consumer price inflation fell sharply in December to an annual rate of 3.1% from November's figure of 4.1%.

The biggest factor was the cut in VAT from 17.5% to 15%, announced in the pre-Budget report on 24 November, the Office for National Statistics said.

But high food, gas and electricity prices prevented the rate from falling as fast as economists had predicted.

The headline Retail Prices Index (RPI) measure fell to 0.9% from November's 3% rate, the biggest fall in 28 years.