UK inflation slows down

Slower growth in the prices of clothes and shoes helped to reduce the inflation rate by 0.1%, official figures showed today.

According to data from the Office of National Statistics (ONS), the consumer prices index - the government's new target measure for inflation - fell to 1.3% in November from 1.4% during the previous month.

The price of clothing and footwear, and in particular women's clothing, rose by less than last year, when the increase in prices had been greater than the seasonal norm, the ONS said.

Slower growth in the prices of leisure items such as theatre tickets, games and newspapers also contributed to the downward trend.

However, the cost of air travel falling by less than a year ago was the main factor pushing inflation upwards. Another large upward contribution came from food and non-alcoholic drinks, where prices overall rose this year but had fallen a year ago.

The Treasury has adopted the CPI, otherwise known as the harmonised index of consumer prices, as its inflation measure following the chancellor, Gordon Brown's recommendation in his pre-budget report last week.

The government's former inflation measure, the retail price index (RPI), also fell this month, with the underlying rate of RPI inflation moving to 2.5% from 2.7% in October.

The headline rate of RPI inflation - which includes mortgage interest payments - fell to 2.5% from 2.6% in the previous month.

The CPI annual rate is currently below the 2% target set by Mr Brown last week, although analysts had expected the November figure to rise 0.1% to 1.5% today.

The old inflation measure was expected to stay above the government's previous underlying target of 2.5%.

The difference between the CPI and the RPI is caused principally by the absence of housing and council tax costs in the CPI figure. The coverage of items in the new measurement is also different, with fewer one-off effects included.

The introduction of CPI brings the UK into line with the eurozone, which already uses the measure.