Rishi Sunak is being urged to cut VAT to help families across the country deal with the rising cost of inflation.
The latest Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures revealed earlier today the rate of inflation rose again last month, remaining at 40-year highs and deepening the squeeze felt by households.
The rate of consumer prices index ( CPI ) inflation rose from 9 per cent in April to 9.1 per cent in May, according to statisticians.
Food prices added more than 0.2 percentage points to the inflation number, while clothing and footwear prices helped keep a lid on inflation with recreation and culture prices also pulled it downwards.
The news will add to the difficulties faced by many people across the UK. Energy bills rose by 54 per cent for the average household at the beginning of April and will remain at this level until October.
Scottish Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesperson and MP for Edinburgh West Christine Jardine urged the Chancellor to do more to help struggling families.
She said: "Rishi Sunak is standing by while millions of people suffer from eye-watering levels of inflation- he either hasn't got any sense or any heart not to intervene.
"This Chancellor has hiked taxes time and time again, refusing to slash them to help with the cost of living emergency. Even when we know slashing VAT is a sure-fire way to help families while keeping inflation under control.
"Instead, the Chancellor, his Prime Minister and his colleagues continue to sit on their hands while the country suffers, they are not fit for purpose."
While SNP Treasury spokesperson Alison Thewliss said the Tory government is not doing enough to help those in need.
She added: "How many more reports and rising inflation figures do we have to see before the UK government decides to act?
"Businesses and households can’t take much more of this – it’s time for the UK government to act, and with haste.
“In Scotland, using its limited powers and fixed budget, the Scottish Government is taking action to mitigate the Tory government’s failures.
"They have uprated benefits, doubled the Scottish Child Payment, and are spending £83 million on tackling the UK government’s cruel cuts.
"Meanwhile the Tories at Westminster refuse to lift a finger.
"Time and again the SNP has urged the Tories to take real action – but instead, they choose to make the rich richer and the poor poorer. This has to end.
"With Labour failing to take this UK government to task, and refusing to consider re-joining our allies within the EU, it is clear that only independence can protect Scotland from ‘Brexit Britain’."
'Pensioners are particularly vulnerable'
Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab defended restoring the pensions triple lock, which will see the benefit rise in line with inflation, at a time when the Government is arguing against wages keeping pace with rising prices.
He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "They (pensioners) are particularly vulnerable and they are disproportionately affected by the increase in energy costs which we know everyone is facing."
The Government had committed £37 billion to help people cope with rising costs, he said, but "at the same time we have got to stop making the problem worse by fuelling pay demands that will only see inflation stay higher for longer and that only hurts the poorest the worst".
To sign up to the Daily Record Politics newsletter, click here.
