LONDON, May 16 (Reuters) - British inflation hit its highest level since September 2013 last month, building on its sharp rise since the vote to leave the European Union and tightening the squeeze on living costs for households ahead of a national election on June 8. Consumer prices rose in April by an annual 2.7 percent, the Office for National Statistics said on Tuesday, and economists said inflation would climb further as the fall in the value of the pound since the Brexit vote pushes up the cost of imports. Last week Bank of England Governor Mark Carney warned this year would be challenging for consumers, saying that wages are about to fall in real, inflation-adjusted terms. Clothing and electricity prices also rose at a faster rate during April while changes to certain car taxes also helped to push up the rate of inflation. Slideshow (7 Images)

Services prices - which the BoE uses as a guide to domestic inflation pressures - rose by 3 percent, also the biggest jump since September 2013, pushed up by the higher air fares.
The Office for National Statistics in the United Kingdom states that consumer prices in Britain rose by an annualized 2.7% in April, the highest level of inflation in almost four years.