Inflation basket 2017: Gin and jigsaws are in while mobile phones drop out

Gin and jigsaws have been added to the basket of goods used to keep track of inflation but mobile phone handsets and menthol cigarettes are out.

The Office for National Statistics updates the Consumer Price Index basket every year with a view to making it more representative of the types of products bought by UK households.

There have been 16 additions to the basket for 2017, including gin, which, due to a recent boost in its popularity, is getting a category of its own from this year onwards.

Sales of UK gin topped £1bn worldwide for the first time last year with 40 new distilleries opening between January and November according to HMRC.

Jigsaws will also form part of the CPI picture from this year onwards, and are intended to be representative of adult-type hobbies - a category that has hitherto gone under-represented.

Of the 16 additions to this year's basket, six relate to drinks. The continuing trend in healthy-living and "free-from" products has seen the introduction of non-dairy milks such as soya and almond while flavoured water has also made the grade.

There has been something of a shake-up when it comes to cider with the price of bottles of flavoured cider set to be tracked separately to apple cider from this year forward.

Eleven items have been axed from the CPI basked this year including non-smart mobile phone handsets. Despite a new model of the venerated Nokia 3310 due for release in the coming months, sales of mobile phones of this type have declined in favour of their smarter counterparts.

Mentholated cigarettes have also dropped out of the basket this year as consumers have turned their attention towards electronic cigarettes, which have been included in the basket for the past two years.

Fees for stopping cheques have been taken out of the basket this year too while the average price of a council tax bill will be included in the CPI for the first time.