Responding to the Monetary Policy Committee’s decision to hold the Bank of England base rate at 3.75%, Muniya Barua, Deputy Chief Executive at BusinessLDN, said:
“The war in Iran has dashed hopes of falling borrowing costs and is pushing up inflation, damaging global supply chains and slowing already sluggish growth.
“Against that backdrop, it’s vital that the Government doubles down on its efforts to get the economy moving.
“Pausing and reviewing the introduction of the Building Safety Levy – a tax on new homes – to avoid jeopardising efforts to lift housebuilding in the capital from record lows, delivering on a manifesto commitment to replace the business rates system, and establishing an Office for Tax Competitiveness to assess where the UK is out of step with rival destinations would all help to boost growth.”