Pensioners, workers and home-seekers got another nasty Bullingdon-style clobbering from David Cameron's government of millionaires yesterday.

New official figures showed a relentless surge in the cost of living, with house prices soaring to a record high.

Pensioners learned that they are in for a further mugging next April when they receive an "up-rating" of just 2.7 per cent - even though the retail prices index (RPI) increased by 3.2 per cent up to September.

This is because the government has moved the goalposts, so that next year's pension uprating will be based on September's 2.7 per cent rise in the more narrowly based consumer prices index (CPI).

Basic state pension will go up by a measly £2.95 per week from next April.

The real value of welfare benefits for people of working age will also slump because Chancellor George Osborne has already decreed a three-year benefits cap of just 1 per cent per year.

Labour shadow Treasury minister Catherine McKinnell complained that the relentless upward surge in prices has left working people nearly £1,500-a-year worse off since the Con-Dem government came to power.

"With prices still rising much faster than wages, the cost of living crisis under David Cameron continues," she said.

Left MP Dennis Skinner declared: "Let's have no more silly nonsense talk that things are getting better.

"In the real world, away from the London millionaires' highlife, people are suffering even more."

The annual rise in the CPI remained unchanged at 2.7 per cent in September, while the RPI rose by 3.2 per cent compared with 3.3 per cent in August.

But average wages rose by only 1.1 per cent over the same annual period and food price inflation was 4.8 per cent.

The Office for National Statistics also announced that average house prices have risen to record levels.

Average price of a house or flat now stands at a crippling £247,000.

House prices rose by 3.8 per cent in the year to August, up from 3.3 per cent in July.

The official house price index stood at 185.8, overtaking the previous 2008 peak of 185.5.

House prices are increasing most rapidly in London and south-east England. They also rose in Wales by 1 per cent, but were still falling in Scotland by 0.7 per cent.

Left MP Jeremy Corbyn warned that soaring house prices would have a knock-on effect, pushing up rents charged by private landlords.

Easington Labour MP Grahame Morris said: "Cameron and his fellow millionaires are ratcheting up the misery for millions of ordinary people on low and fixed incomes."

National Pensioners Convention general secretary Dot Gibson said: "Over the last few years, the decision to change from RPI to CPI has effectively robbed older people of a proper increase in their pensions."

She added: "Many older people are struggling with the rising costs of living and our pensions are simply not keeping pace."

Over six million older people in Britain were trying to live on an income of less than £10,500 a year, she said.

"Britain has one of the least adequate state pensions in Europe."