It's time Bank of England cut interest rates to boost Britain

A FORMER Cabinet minister has called on the Bank of England to boost Britain by slashing interest rates today.

- Sarah O'Grady

Sir David Davis, former Brexit Secretary, urged the Bank's Governor Andrew Bailey to cut the current 5.25% base rate to "help everyone from business owners. to mortgage payers".

He added: "The Bank's imperative right now for our country must be to develop growth. We have to have higher salaries and payments for public services.

"The Bank's part of that should be a cut in interest rates to help everyone from business owners to mortgage payers."

And his call was echoed by a host of businesses who warned of the damage high interest rates were doing to the economy.

David Hannah, group chairman of Cornerstone Tax, said: "To stave off a recession and get Britain buying again, it's clearer than ever the BoE must urgently rethink their macroeconomic strategy.

Celebrate

"With inflation nearing its 2% target, policymakers should look towards cutting the base rate by at least half a percentage point in order to signal optimism within the wider UK economy." He pointed to poor shopping figures from the British Retail Consortium and rising mortgage rates squeezing homeowners.

Gary Bush, of MortgageShop.com, said an interest rate cut would be reason for the hard-pressed British public to celebrate.

He added: "These economists are right to come out raging for an interest rate cut as soon as possible.

"It seems that they are very much listening to the people on the street and rightly fearing the possibility of us following Germany into a recession.