Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to encourage consumers to switch their savings accounts to benefit from high interest alternatives.

The Government is committed to ensuring people are supported to save, and that they can access a wide range of competitive savings products. The retail savings market currently offers a range of competitive options to savers, who can now access the highest rates in recent years on a variety of instant access and fixed-term products. I would encourage savers to explore the full range of products available in the market to find the best rates.

However, the pricing and provision of financial products (including savings accounts), is a commercial decision for banks and building societies and the Government does not seek to intervene in such decisions. The Bank of England’s independent Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) sets the base rate of interest, known as the Bank Rate, to achieve its primary objective of maintaining price stability. MPC decisions over Bank Rate guide commercial banks’ decisions over the retail interest rates they charge on loans and pay on deposits.