Cliff Taylor

And I suppose the danger for the government is that it's seen to, you know, it has to chase this as the year goes on if prices keep going up.

I wish to remember that government supports are only put in place up to the summer so far.

So are they going to have to be extended?

Quite likely.

Simon Harris has been out talking about it.

It's a difficult one for them and then you've October and the budget and demands building up there as well.

So I think the risk for them is that the inflationary shock kind of spreads through the economy.

So the next thing to watch would be electricity prices.

So gas prices have gone up.

Wholesale gas prices have gone up, rather.

No, they haven't.

So gas is obviously a big input into making electricity.

And a lot of houses use gas as well.

So those increases haven't been passed on yet.

But the likelihood is that unless prices come back down, they will pretty soon.

So there will be some increases there.

Businesses are on fixed rates.

fixed-term contracts, most big businesses, some of those have rolled over already and the businesses have typically gone to floating rates now in the hope that costs are going to come down.

Others will be rolling off.

So businesses, there could be a general uplift in energy costs for businesses as well.