Borrowing costs kept unchanged for second meeting in a row, with inflation at nearly twice official target * Business live – latest updates Bank of England policymakers have voted to leave interest rates at 4%, as Rachel Reeves prepares for her make-or-break budget just under three weeks away. The Bank’s nine-member monetary policy committee (MPC) announced that they had decided to leave interest rates unchanged for the second meeting in a row, in line with City forecasts of a hold. Continue reading...

Chancellor to give Downing Street speech as markets open and is expected to be ‘candid’ about choices to fill fiscal gap Keir Starmer perhaps gave a clearer hint as to what is coming in the budget when he addressed Labour MPs in private last night at a meeting of the PLP (parliamentary Labour party). This is what Jessica Elgot and Pippa Crerar are reporting in their splash story. Starmer told MPs on Monday night it would be a “Labour budget built on Labour values” and promised it would protect the NHS, reduce debt and ease the cost of living. The prime minister gave MPs a hint at how the government would frame its potential manifesto breach – saying it was “becoming clearer that the long-term impact of Tory austerity, their botched Brexit deal and the pandemic on Britain’s productivity is worse than even we feared”. Later this month, I will deliver my second budget as chancellor. At that budget, I will make the choices necessary to deliver strong foundations for our economy – for this year, and years to come. Continue reading...