British inflation jumped to 6.4% in October,...

British inflation jumped to 6.4% in October, its highest in more than three years, the government said. The annual inflation rate in September was 5.9%. The Department of Employment said the retail price index was driven up in October by rises in interest rates for home mortgages. That reflected a rise in British interest rates generally, engineered by Chancellor of the Exchequer Nigel Lawson to restrain an inflationary consumer spending boom.