London is Europe's costliest city

Londoners have to put up with high living costs

London remains the most expensive city in Europe because of high housing and transport costs, new research shows.

But the UK capital fell a place to third in an annual world study of 144 cities, behind the Japanese cities of Tokyo and Osaka.

London was ahead of Glasgow (40th) and Birmingham (47th), in the rankings by Mercer Human Resource Consulting.

It looked at the cost of housing, transport, food, clothing, household goods and entertainment.

New York remained the most expensive city in North America, while four of the world's costliest cities to live in were in Asia.

Tokyo was top of the league, with Osaka second, London third, Moscow fourth and Seoul fifth.

Sydney remained the most expensive city in Australasia.

"Steep accommodation and transport costs together with the appreciation of the pound against the US dollar have contributed to London's high ranking," said Marie-Laurence Sepede of Mercer.