Pressure on Sunak as UK living standards fall further

British prime minister Rishi Sunak will be contesting a general election expected to be held next year against a bleak economic backdrop. 

UK households drew down savings and repaid mortgages for the first time on record in the first three months of the year as living standards deteriorated once again in the face of soaring inflation.

Adjusted for inflation, household disposable incomes per head fell by almost 1%, the Office for National Statistics said. Living standards have now shrunk for five of the past six quarters. They briefly improved at the end of last year when families received the first direct payments from the government to help with their energy bills.