Base rate held

The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee has voted to keep the base rate on hold at 0.5 per cent.

Any rise was considered unlikely in the current economic climate, where UK growth has been slow and the continued problems in parts of Europe are expected to have an impact on the UK economy.

The London InterBank Offer Rate (Libor), the rate on which some lenders price their mortgages, has risen slightly in recent days, however.