Britain's inflation rate shot up to its highest level in five months in November due to airfare pricing and rocketing utility bills.
The Office for National Statistics said that consumer prices rose 0.2 per cent on the month in November, taking the annual rate up three-tenths of a point to 1.5 per cent .
Analysts had predicted a rate of just 1.3 per cent . The chief culprit for the pick-up in inflation was transportation costs.
The ONS said that airfares did not fall as much as they usually do in November, pushing up the inflation rate by 0.07 per cent age points.
Rising fuel costs also pushed up the cost of motoring while electricity and gas bills rose at their fastest rate since records began in 1997.
Inflation remains well below the Bank of England's 2 per cent target, but the figures are still likely to boost expectations that the central bank will have to raise interest rates at least once more next year.