UK consumer prices rise 0.1 percent annually in May after briefly spell in negative territory

Britain's rate of inflation inched up to 0.1 percent in the year to May, ending the country' brief brush with a drop in consumer prices.

The Office of National Statistics said Tuesday that the rise compares with a 0.1 percent fall in the year ending in April.

The biggest upward push to prices came from transport services, notably air fares. Drops in food and fuel prices have also eased after an extended supermarket price war.

Treasury chief George Osborne says the uptick is "further evidence of an economic plan that is working, with a powerful mix of low prices and rising wages, which are continuing to grow well above inflation."

The Bank of England has said it expects inflation to pick up further at the end of the year.