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Cut rates, group demands

An interest rate cut from the Bank of England - a move which would help to make personal loans deals cheaper - has been demanded by an industry body.

The director general of the British Retail Consortium said today that a general spending slowdown in the UK makes the change necessary.

Stephen Robertson added: "The Bank…should take a quarter-point off rates, and it’s even getting to the stage where a half-point is not unreasonable.

"If the economy slows down dramatically you have got to realise that one in nine people employed in the UK is employed in retail - here's lots of talk about job cuts at the moment."

The Bank has reduced rates twice since the beginning of the ongoing credit crunch last summer - cutting the base rate from 5.75 to 5.25 per cent.

A clear majority of economists contacted by news agency Reuters this week said that they expected a 0.25 per cent cut from the Bank.

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