Interest rates: Starmer warns of ‘Tory premium on mortgages’

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt confirms more pain to come in autumn statement

Rishi Sunak was accused of locking the UK in a “vicious cycle of stagnation”, as the Bank of England hiked interest rates and predicted the longest recession in a century.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said that families were now facing “a Tory premium on mortgages”, with the 0.75 point rise to 3 per cent in the Bank’s base rate likely to be passed on in the form of more expensive home loans.

As chancellor Jeremy Hunt issued a further signal of austerity measures to come in this month’s autumn statement, there were warnings from business not to repeat the mistakes of the early 2010s by cutting government investment.