Scottish devolution: Holyrood to get control over income tax and retain right to vote on rest of UK rates November 26, 2014 A cross-party committee of MPs will today propose that the Scottish parliament be handed direct control over billions of pounds of income tax and welfare benefits. Lord Smith of Kelvin will unveil the plans after 11 weeks of secret negotiations culminated last night as representatives from five different political parties put the finishing touches to [...]
Interest rates forecast to remain at record low until 2016 November 17, 2014 Interest rates set by the Bank of England (BoE) might not rise off their record lows until 2016, economists from HSBC said yesterday. HSBC recently offered a 0.99 per cent mortgage rate for an initial two-year period – its lowest ever rate. Meanwhile, political uncertainty, low inflation and weak economic growth are all set to deter [...]
UK needs to raise interest rates now, says Bank of England policymaker Ian McCafferty October 26, 2014 A senior Bank of England (BoE) policymaker has said the UK should begin raising interest rates now, despite low inflation. Ian McCafferty is one of just two members of the bank's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) to have voted in favour of rate hikes since August. The seven other members warned against a “premature” tightening [...]
BoE’s Ben Broadbent: Low interest rates on government debt are down to savings glut October 23, 2014 Interest rates are not low due to central bank policy, but due to economic factors, Bank of England official Ben Broadbent said yesterday. Broadbent is referring to the interest on government debt as opposed to the interest rate set by the Bank. “I read a lot of economic commentary that says interest rates are low [...]
Bank of England’s Andrew Haldane: Interest rates could stay lower for longer October 17, 2014 The Bank of England's chief economist Andrew Haldane has warned that interest rates may need to be kept lower for longer due the deteriorating state of the world economy. The BoE kept rates at their record lows of 0.5 per cent last week citing concerns over health of the global recovery, lacklustre wage growth in [...]
Interest rates: Bank of England keeps base rate at 0.5 per cent October 9, 2014 The pound has risen against the dollar today, after the Bank of England confirmed the base rate would stay at 0.5 per cent. The Old Lady of Threadneedle Street threw no surprises into the mix today, with the monetary policy committee (MPC) voting to keep the interest rate where it has been since March 2009. [...]
Will interests rates rise early after No vote in the Scottish independence referendum? September 19, 2014 The No vote in the Scottish independence referendum could make an interest rate next spring more likely. Despite the No vote, however, the consensus is that it remains unlikely that rates will rise before then. A Yes vote could well have postponed any hike. In a recent speech Mark Carney said he saw a rate rise next [...]
MPC split again as two Bank of England policymakers vote to raise interest rates September 17, 2014 Bank of England policymakers voted to hold interest rates at a record low of 0.5 per cent again in September, despite two members of the monetary policy committee arguing to raise rates for the second month in a row. Minutes of the MPC's monthly meeting, published this morning, showed the hawkish Ian McCafferty and Martin [...]
Bank of England MPC votes to keep interest rates at record low September 4, 2014 The Bank of England's monetary policy committee has done just what everyone was expecting, and held rates where they are at 0.5 per cent. The minutes of last month's meeting revealed the nine-person panel had been split seven to two in favour of leaving rates at their historic lows, and it is considered unlikely that [...]
Growth in UK services is accelerating – so what does this mean for interest rates? September 3, 2014 Could this be the news the hawks have been waiting for? Markit/CIPS PMI data out today shows an acceleration in growth in the services industry which, when combined with the two previous surveys, suggests August saw the fastest economic growth since last November. Adjusting for seasonal factors, the Business Activity Index stood at [...]