Time this week to talk about inflation and mortgages. 

Inflation, as everyone knows, remains stubbornly high – even though last week we heard that food inflation, one of the biggest pressures on family finances, is starting to ease. 

Why is our inflation higher than other countries? 

Like Italy (but unlike France, where they have a lot of nuclear power), we use a lot of gas to heat our homes – fully three-quarters of us. 

That makes us particularly susceptible to high energy prices. 

We also import about half of our food which means – like Germany – we have suffered high food inflation. 

And like America we have low unemployment so a tight labour market has led to service inflation in the hospitality industry. 

The UK has more of these factors in combination than others – but the good news is they should all be transitory, provided we keep to the plan and allow the Bank of England to do its job.

Does that mean we are doing nothing? Far from it. 

As food prices fall, I have been meeting food producers to make sure these are fed through to shoppers. 

On Friday I met the banks to ask why savers are not seeing the increases in interest rates that are affecting borrowers, and this week I met our major regulators to make sure competition is driving down prices in the way it should.

I am also making sure proper plans are in place to support people who go into arrears with their mortgages. 

Lenders are already required to give a tailored solution to people in difficulty, with a ‘pre-action protocol’ designed to make sure repossession is only a last resort. 

I have also been talking to experts like Martin Lewis to see what else might happen.

Ultimately, though, there is only one solution – lower inflation. 

We must stick to our guns and squeeze every last drop of high inflation from the system. 

That is what is starting to happen in other countries so there is absolutely no reason it cannot happen here.