Hammond urged to protect poorest from long-term rise in inflation

Chancellor gets surprise boost as UK inflation rate dips to 0.9% but analysts expect cost of living to climb as rising costs feed through to consumers

Philip Hammond was on Tuesday being urged to ignore a small and unexpected fall in inflation and use next week's autumn statement to protect Britain's poorest families from an expected sharp rise in the cost of living in 2017.

The chancellor was provided with a boost ahead of his first set-piece occasion on November 23 when cheaper clothes and a smaller increase in university tuition fees meant the annual increase in the cost of living as measured by the consumer prices index fell from 1% to 0.9%.

Related: UK inflation rate drops to 0.9% - business live