As Britain's new chancellor finishes a first Budget, due on 28 October, middle-income households say years of rising prices have left them with nothing left to cut. The account, reported by the BBC, captures a familiar squeeze: bills that cannot easily be reduced, and a monthly budget already stripped back.

One household's rising mortgage

In Ipswich, Pilates instructor Dawn Fazackerley-King, aged 42, describes the pressure facing her household. With a household income of roughly £70,000 and two children aged six and eight, she expects her mortgage rate to jump from 1.4 percent to around 5.3 percent in a few months, adding about £250 a month. Monthly direct debits are dominated by the mortgage, council tax and energy bills, leaving little room to absorb further rises.

What the wider figures show

Official figures underline that the pressure is widespread, though easing from earlier peaks. The Office for National Statistics found that in August, 55 percent of adults said the cost of living had risen on the previous month, down from 62 percent the previous August and 79 percent in April, but still more than half. Food, fuel and energy were the most cited pressures. The Prime Minister has promised breathing room, including a £2 cap on most single bus fares in England, a VAT cut on domestic electricity and plans to scrap gas standing charges. Dawn welcomes the standing-charge move but says the steps are too small to change the overall picture for her household. Her example is one household's experience, not national statistics, and it is reported here as an illustration of the squeeze rather than as a measure of every family's position.

Sources: BBC reporting (via World Right Now)