Bank was ‘blindsided’ by mini-Budget

The Bank of England was not briefed by Liz Truss’s government ahead of September’s mini-Budget, its governor has said. Andrew Bailey added that Truss’s failure to tell the bank about her mini-Budget was “extraordinary” and “abnormal”. He added that mortgage rates were beginning to fall after the “premium” caused by the mini-Budget. Bailey told the Lords economic affairs committee yesterday that more mortgages were becoming available and that the rates on new fixed-rate deals were coming down, after hitting 6.2% earlier this year. Half of all households with a fixed or variable-rate mortgage will be resetting their loans by the end of next year, according to the bank. The Times (£) The FT (£) The Guardian