Interest Rates Debate

Full Debate: Read Full Debate
Department: HM Treasury
Tuesday 10th November 2026

(1 day, 7 hours ago)

Lords Chamber
Read Full debate Read Hansard Text Watch Debate Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Lord Pitt-Watson Portrait Lord Pitt-Watson (Lab)
- View Speech - Hansard - - - Excerpts

How can I answer that? You may say that; I couldn’t possibly comment. I made the point that the Bank rate rose between May 2022 and August 2023 by 4.25 percentage points. If I am doing my arithmetic right, that is 17 times what we have seen in the past week.

Lord Redwood Portrait Lord Redwood (Con)
- View Speech - Hansard - -

Why was the Bank of England recently given permission by the Chancellor not to sell £120 billion of long bonds that it was planning to sell and why is it now seeking permission to sell all the remaining bonds to the Treasury?

Lord Pitt-Watson Portrait Lord Pitt-Watson (Lab)
- View Speech - Hansard - - - Excerpts

This was the decision of the independent Bank of England, just as the decision on the Bank rate is an independent decision of the Bank of England. I am not sure I can go beyond that in commenting.