Listen
Interest rates reduction
04/12/2008
Finance Secretary John Swinney today welcomed the Bank of England's decision to cut interest rates by one percentage point from 3 per cent to 2 per cent, the lost level since 1951.
He said:
"Today's action to cut interest rates will be widely welcomed by home owners and businesses across Scotland.
"The Scottish Government has long been demanding a deep cut in interest rates to help our economy weather the current downturn. Previously, the Bank of England acted with a 1.5 per cent cut - followed by another one per cent drop today.
"This underlines the depths of the UK's economic problems and emphasises the need for more urgent action.
"The UK Government and the banks themselves must ensure that this cut is passed on to households and businesses - particularly important given the substantial amount of taxpayers' money which has been ploughed into banks.
"For our part, the Scottish Government is doing all it can to help - with an economic recovery plan, slashing business rates and providing the funding for a further freeze of the Council Tax.
"But the UK government needs to follow suit. We have welcomed the accelerated spending that will support nearly 4,000 jobs in Scotland. But there is still more that can be done. For example, we have called for more targeted action on VAT to help people struggling with fuel bills and to boost the housing sector.
"And the Treasury needs to relax its inflexible accounting rules so that we can access our unused money in UK bank accounts - including the Fossil Fuel Levy and our own underspend - to invest in economic activity in Scotland now."