Rising food and fuel prices hoist UK inflation rate to 2.3%

Standard of living fears build as wage growth slows and inflation leaps from 1.8% in January to highest level since September 2013

Rising food and fuel prices pushed Britain's inflation rate to 2.3% last month, the highest rate for more than three years.

Inflation was well above the 2.1% expected in a Reuters poll of economists, as grocery bills started rising after years of food getting cheaper.