Rachel Reeves owes the nation an apology for her inflation shock

April was misery month for consumers, and it delivered its knockout blow with a surge in inflation, dashing hopes of cheaper borrowing.

The Consumer Prices Index leapt to 3.5 per cent from 2.6 per cent, after a pair of good months in which the figure came in below expectations. Not this time. The City had pencilled in 3.3 per cent.

The month-on-month rise in prices between April and March surged to 1.2 per cent from 0.3 per cent previously. Remember, these increases are cumulative. Needless to say, bad memories of cost of living crises were immediately revived.

The lorry-load of tax rises and bill increases that delivered a body blow to every household and business budget in Britain were the guilty parties. Water bills, mobile phones, gas and electricity prices, rail fares and higher taxes crash-landed on the country from 1 April, delivering a perfect storm.

Service price inflation was a notable blackspot in the data dump from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The rate at which prices have been rising in this sector of the economy has been a longstanding bugbear for the rate-setters on the Bank of England’s monetary policy committee (MPC). Recent signs of progress, in which the rate dipped below 5 per cent, went into a hard reverse. The number increased to 5.4 per cent from 4.7 per cent, shattering expectations in the process.

Economists had predicted only a small rise to 4.8 per cent in this category. Core inflation, which strips out the volatile categories of food, alcohol, energy and tobacco, meanwhile, jumped to 3.8 per cent from 3.4 per cent.

I still believe the MPC could and should act to boost the economy by reducing rates, but it is getting harder to make the case and I don’t get a vote. This data will very likely cool the ardour of those who do, including some of the more dovish members, with perhaps the sole exception of Swati Dhingra. The rest of them will pay heed to the voice of the Bank’s hawkish chief economist, Huw Pill, who has argued that the Bank is moving too quickly to keep inflation low and should now take its foot off the gas.

The fact that the economy, a key secondary concern for the MPC after the 2 per cent inflation target, appears to have been faring a little better than expected will further play into that.

All this is bad news for small businesses, and mortgage-holders in particular. Prior to the release, the traders who play the interest rate swaps market had been betting on two further cuts in the base rate – currently 4.25 per cent – over the next year. That is now down to one.

The price of fixed-rate mortgage deals is governed by this market, and the cooling of sentiment will likely hit deals, which had been dipping below the 4 per cent barrier, at least for those looking to take on a relatively small loan when compared to the value of their home. The pound also strengthened on the back of the news.

“I am disappointed with these figures because I know cost of living pressures are still weighing down on working people,” said the chancellor, Rachel Reeves.

Disappointed but not sorry, which is always the hardest word for politicians. Reeves is responsible for a substantial chunk of the lorry-load of tax rises and bill increases that drove the figures skyward. However, instead of an acknowledgement of that fact, she threw some shade at the last lot – “we are a long way from the double-digit inflation we saw under the previous administration” – and trumpeted an increased minimum wage, her fuel-duty freeze and the government’s recent trade deals.

As welcome as higher pay for people at the bottom of the wage scale is, it also helps fuel inflation. The same is true of increasing taxes on jobs, which Reeves did by raising employers’ national insurance contributions. Businesses have to find a way to meet these extra costs. Hiking prices is, for some, the only option.

As an economist Reeves knows this, and her statement was both disingenuous and disappointing. Plus ça change when it comes to Britain’s politicians.

A substantial chunk of the increased minimum wage will inevitably be gobbled up by higher food prices, which have been heading northwards again. This key category jumped to 3.4 per cent, from 3 per cent.

Was there anything to provide some measure of comfort? Well, the price of petrol fell and the ONS also highlighted “heavy discounting for children’s garments and women’s footwear”. But that really is clutching at straws.

Inflation is the monster under the bed and it has come out from its hiding place. It looks set to roar for at least the next few months, and we probably haven’t yet reached the peak.

True, it is expected to fall towards the tail end of the year, but that will come as slim comfort to the consumers at the sharp end or to the borrowers, both business and residential, whose interest charges will remain elevated. About the only people with cause to feel good are savers. But with Angela Rayner reportedly gunning for them, they won’t be smiling either.