PM wants lenders to pass on rate cuts

Published: April 14, 2008

Gordon Brown wants to introduce new measures aimed at ensuring mortgage interest rates fall alongside the base rate of interest.

In an interview with the News of the World, the prime minister said that he and chancellor Alistair Darling would look into the situation.

People on fixed-rate mortgages have been unaffected by the recent Bank of England rate cuts but so-too have those on tracker-rate mortgages.

The Bank has cut rates three times since December but high inter-bank lending rates have forced lenders to increase mortgage interest rates in that time.

Mr Brown promised "new measures to ensure those lower interest rates are passed on to mortgage holders".

"The Bank of England is injecting an additional £15 billion. We need to do more to see this feed through to improved availability of mortgage lending," he added.

The base rate of interest currently stands at five per cent after falling from 5.75 per cent since December.