The UK government can’t stop inflation rising – but it can act to ease the pain | Carsten Jung

Helping low earners is a priority now. And that means reversing the cut to universal credit

• Carsten Jung is a senior economist at the Institute for Public Policy Research's Centre for Economic Justice

In late summer there was a sense of hope for the UK economy, as Covid restrictions were lifted and jobs started to return. But more recently the clouds have started gathering again: prices for certain goods (such as petrol and gas) are going up and, in some cases, goods have even disappeared from shelves. Why is this happening?

At the heart of this current increase in prices are global factors - most importantly the supply chain squeeze", the global energy squeeze" and the Covid bounce". All three are hitting many countries at the same time and are testament to just how connected our world economy is.