Leeds and Dewsbury saw the sharpest increase, as 40 per cent more people petitioned for bankruptcy than in the previous three months. In Halifax there was a rise of 32 per cent while Hull saw 22 per cent more cases between January and March.

Nationally there was also a 12 per cent rise in the number people applying for bankruptcy, with 13,080 cases across the country, according to figures from the Ministry of Justice.

There was also a six per cent rise, to 4,851, in the number of creditor bankruptcy petitions during the first quarter. These are launched by people who are owed money.

A total of 2,965 companies were facing winding-up petitions, up three per cent from the previous quarter and the third successive quarterly rise.

The figures give the latest indication that more people and businesses are finding it harder to make ends meet amid soaring household bills.

Last week the first quarter figures showed the number of people facing home repossession rose to its highest level for 16 years and the number of people declared insolvent rose during the period to 25,264.

Howard Archer, chief UK economist of Global Insight, said he was expecting to see further rises in the bankruptcy figure this year.

"It's a trend that I would expect to continue going forward," he said.

Home energy bills have risen by 20 per cent this year, petrol prices have risen by around 25 per cent during the past 12 months and homeowners refinancing their mortgage face the highest fixed-rates deals since the start of the decade, it was reported yesterday.

Figures compiled by personal finance website MoneyFacts show that the average rate for a two-year home loan has hit 6.64 per cent, up from 4.34 per cent two years ago.

It means that someone coming to the end of a mortgage on a £150,000 house taken out in 2005 will see their average repayments spike by £206 a month to £1,025.

It is estimated that around 1.4 million homeowners will see their fixed deals expire this year.

The head of personal insolvency in the north for finance consultants KPMG, Paul Bateman, said yesterday: "Consumers are seeing the cost of their mortgages increase, fuel costs continue to go up and now food prices are rising in a manner not seen for years."

The record price of oil could increase British Airways' annual fuel bill by more than a £1bn, the airline warned yesterday. The company spent £2.1bn on fuel during the past year, more than a quarter of its total costs. It made record pre-tax profits of £883m.

n There are more than 4.5 million households in Britain where no one works full-time, according to research released by the Tories yesterday.

The figure of 4.66 million households – which does not include homes occupied by pensioners – is up by more than 200,000 since 1997, when Labour came to power, said Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Chris Grayling.