Published: November 6, 2025 at 2:04 pm
The Bank of England has held interest rates at 4% in its final decision before the Autumn Budget.
The Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee was split on the decision, with four voting for a cut, and five voting to hold.
Governor Andrew Bailey’s decision to hold swung the vote that way.
Asked whether he was “unconvinced” by Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s pre-Budget speech, he told a news conference that he was “not passing judgement” and said the Bank bases its decisions on “policies that have been announced”.
The Bank expects inflation will fall to close to 3% early next year, and then decline towards the 2% target after that.
Inflation peaked at more than 11% in 2022 and returned to the 2% target last year. However it has risen again this year.
Interest rates are cut when the Bank wants to convince people to spend, and raised when it wants to control inflation.