LONDON: British inflation jumped back above 10 percent in September on soaring food prices, official data showed Wednesday, with the country gripped by a cost-of-living crisis bedevilling the government.

The Consumer Prices Index accelerated to 10.1 percent on an annual basis, up from 9.9 percent in August, the Office for National Statistics said in a statement. The September rate matched the level in July and is the highest in 40 years as a result also of sky-high energy bills.

“I understand that families across the country are struggling with rising prices and higher energy bills,” Britain’s new finance minister Jeremy Hunt said in a separate statement.

“This government will prioritise help for the most vulnerable while delivering wider economic stability and driving long-term growth that will help everyone.”

The government has been rocked by chaos in markets in the wake a budget that pledged tax cuts that would have been funded by state debt. Most of those measures have since been reversed, leaving Prime Minister Liz Truss fighting to save her job.

Following widespread criticism over the budget, Truss sacked Hunt’s predecessor, Kwasi Kwarteng, after less than six weeks in the role.

Capital Economics noted that the BoE could hike its rate by as much as one percentage point to 3.25 percent at its next meeting in November. Victoria Scholar, head of investment at Interactive Investor, said inflation was “the most pressing economic problem facing the Bank of England as well as the government. “Without price stability, the cost-of-living crisis will continue to weigh on the economy by squeezing household budgets and dampening business margins.”