Britain has the highest inflation of any of its international developed-economy peers, measured at 8.7% in May. That is well above the 2% target set by the government for the independent BoE to deliver.

Asked in a BBC interview about the prospect of changing that target if his party won an election due to be held by next year, Starmer said:

"That's something for us to address closer to the election. We've got probably two, maybe three, fiscal events, before the election. We need to wait until we see what the state of the economy is."

(Reporting by William James; Editing by Hugh Lawson)