Food prices are rising at their fastest rate for 45 years, with the cost of basics such as milk, cheese and eggs surging.

Food price inflation hit 16.2% in the year to October, up from 14.5% in September, latest figures show.

Energy and fuel costs also rose sharply, pushing the overall inflation rate to its highest level since 1981.

The surging cost of living is squeezing household budgets, leaving many people facing hardship.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said it was hitting poorer households hardest, as they spent around half of their income on food and energy, compared to about a third for those on middle incomes.

October’s overall inflation rate, of 11.1%, is the highest for 41 years and up from 10.1% in September.

The latest figures come ahead of Thursday’s Autumn Statement, in which Chancellor Jeremy Hunt is expected to announce billions of pounds worth of public spending cuts and tax rises.

Mr Hunt said his plans would aim to bring spiralling price rises under control, adding that he would take “tough but necessary decisions” to get the economy back on track.

But Labour’s shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves said the surging inflation rate would “strike more fear in the heart of families across Britain” and blamed “12 years of Tory economic failure”.

Inflation is a measure of the cost of living and to calculate it, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) keeps track of the prices of hundreds of everyday items, known as a “basket of goods”.

The ONS said that food prices had risen sharply in October with milk, pasta, margarine, eggs and cereals all going up.

I’ve been conducting a very unscientific experiment by buying the same 10 basic items in Aldi almost every month since May, and yesterday’s bill was another increase.

My shopping list of exactly the same bread, pizza, chips, loo roll, eggs, potatoes, sugar, oats, cornflakes, and nappies has gone up from £14.20 in May to £16.29 yesterday. That’s a 14.7% rise in just six mont