UK inflation rate remains at zero in March

The UK's inflation rate remained at a record low of 0% in March, according to the Office for National Statistics.

Cheaper clothing and footwear, offset by a rise in petrol prices, helped to maintain the rate at 0% for a second month, official figures show.

The figure was the lowest rate of Consumer Prices Index (CPI) inflation since estimates of the measure began in the late 1980s.

It means the cost of living is broadly the same as it was a year earlier.

However, the ONS said that if the rate of inflation was calculated to two decimal places, prices were 0.01% lower than a year before - the first fall on record for the CPI measure.

One of the main reasons the CPI rate remained broadly unchanged was rising petrol and diesel prices between February and March, the ONS said.

But an overall fall in fuel prices over the past year has been a major contributor to low inflation, it added.