Andrew Percy is demanding action from Gordon Brown and the Government to deal with the rising cost of living locally. Official figures released today show that inflation has jumped from 2.5% to 3%. Another report today shows that food prices are rising at the fastest pace ever. A survey by independent price comparison site mySupermarket.co.uk shows that -

• Butter has risen by 60%.
• Pasta has risen by between 81% and 113%.
• The cost of a pound of beef mince has risen by about 15%.
• A loaf of bread is now about 20% more expensive than it was a year ago.

Andrew Percy says, "Anyone who says that the rising cost of living is nothing to do with the Government only has to look at the inflation figures for this month. Those figures show that many of the price rises are as a result of tax rises introduced by Gordon Brown in the budget.

Local people are being hurt by rises food and fuel prices and the only answer coming from Labour is to raises taxes on hard-working people yet further. It doesn't matter where you look, Council Tax, Car Tax or the doubling of the 10p tax rate this Government is making life harder and more expensive for local people.

The news on inflation today coincided with a report by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveys which found that the fall in house prices is the 'worst in 30 years'.

In the modern global economy I accept that the Government can't address every problem but it can at the very least try. Sadly, under Gordon Brown and Labour we have no leadership and instead of showing people that the Government is on their side, our Labour masters have instead decided to cream more money off us all by increasing our taxes!

If ever we needed a change of Government it is now."