Rachel Reeves Brits struggling with the cost living have been dealt a fresh blow after inflation soared to its highest level since the start of last year.Figures released this morning by the Office for National Statistics showed the consumer prices index rate hit 3.5% in the year to April, up from 2.6% in March and much higher than had been expected.The government and Bank of England’s aim is to bring it down to 2%.Grant Fitzner, acting director general of the ONS, said “significant increases in household bills” were to blame for the steep rise.The latest data comes despite chancellor Rachel Reeves’s repeated pledges to put more money in people’s pockets.Reeves said: “I am disappointed with these figures because I know cost of living pressures are still weighing down on working people.“We are long way from the double digit inflation we saw under the previous administration, but I’m determined that we go further and faster to put more money in people’s pockets.”Opposition parties said Reeves’s decision to hike National Insurance payments on employers – which they dubbed a “jobs tax” – was partly to blame for the increase.Shadow chancellor