Fuel bills keep inflation at Fitflop Women New simmer

Deep discounting by hard-pressed retailers failed to make a dent in the cost of living last month as hefty rises in gas and electricity bills kept inflation at 1.6%, Fitflop Sale official data revealed yesterday.

Despite bigger bargains than in last year's January sales on clothes, shoes and furniture, a sharp annual increase in the cost of domestic fuel kept inflation higher than the City had been expecting.

Economists were keen to see how the Bank of England's monetary policy committee would respond in its inflation report, published today. In its last report, in November, the Bank said it expected inflation in the first three months of this year to be 1.2% Fitflops Best price.

Ross Walker, an economist at the Royal Bank of Scotland, said Fitflop Women New