{"id":954060,"date":"2026-05-12T04:29:49","date_gmt":"2026-05-12T04:29:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/954060\/"},"modified":"2026-05-12T04:29:49","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T04:29:49","slug":"too-early-for-direct-action-over-cost-of-living-concerns-says-chief-minister","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/954060\/","title":{"rendered":"Too early for &#8216;direct action&#8217; over cost-of-living concerns says chief minister"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>                <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aiir-c-news-figure__image\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/299016-1.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><br \/>\n                                    Picture credit: Alfred Cannan<\/p>\n<p class=\"aiir-c-news-article__abstract\">\n            Island&#8217;s inflation rate jumps to 4.9%\n        <\/p>\n<p>The chief minister has told Manx Radio it\u2019s too early for government to take \u2018direct action\u2019 to help people who are struggling with the rising cost of living.<\/p>\n<p>Instead Alfred Cannan says government is keeping the situation &#8211; caused by the conflict in the Middle East &#8211; under review.<\/p>\n<p>Inflation rose by two percent in April meaning the Island\u2019s inflation rate is now <a href=\"https:\/\/www.manxradio.com\/news\/isle-of-man-news\/government-gives-assurance-as-inflation-soars\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">4.9 percent<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The jump has been attributed to a spike in fuel prices sparked by the war between America and Iran.<\/p>\n<p><b>Fuel<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Around half of Isle of Man households rely on heating oil.<\/p>\n<p>Government says it\u2019s \u2018closely monitoring the situation daily\u2019 adding that essential supplies remain stable along with the distribution of heating and motor fuel.<\/p>\n<p>There are also no supply issues for ferries or flights and no immediate changes planned to gas and electricity prices and supply. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>An additional \u00a3100,000 has been put towards extending the Energy Efficiency Scheme to improve access to free energy saving kit.<\/p>\n<p><b>&#8216;Strain&#8217;<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Mr Cannan said: \u201cThe conflict continues to dominate global headlines and our thoughts are first with those directly affected in the region.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is also putting strain on the global economy.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur immediate priorities in March and April have been to ensure we had confidence in the supply and availability of necessary items such as fuel.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cToday&#8217;s\u00a0inflation\u00a0figures reflect what we have already seen and we appreciate that prices now built into the Island&#8217;s economy are putting pressure on many households and individuals.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs we have stated before we will continue to look towards the longer term and be ready to offer targeted support if people need it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe will keep the situation under review and adapt our response as it develops.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Mr Cannan admits it\u2019s \u2018concerning\u2019 and says targeted support could be offered later in the year:<\/p>\n<p>\n\u00a0\n<\/p>\n<p>You can watch the full Manx Radio Mannin Line interview here:<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>                    More from Isle of Man News<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Picture credit: Alfred Cannan Island&#8217;s inflation rate jumps to 4.9% The chief minister has told Manx Radio it\u2019s&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":954061,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3090],"tags":[51,1700,77,9458,7910,28157,42452,269,12,6226,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-954060","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-economy","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-fun","12":"tag-isle-of-man","13":"tag-manx","14":"tag-manx-news","15":"tag-music","16":"tag-news","17":"tag-presenters","18":"tag-uk","19":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116559726747522263","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/954060","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=954060"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/954060\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/954061"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=954060"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=954060"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=954060"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}