![](https://static.independent.co.uk/2022/11/02/23/SEI131012339.jpg?width=1200&auto=webp)
Rishi Sunak was accused of locking the UK in a “vicious cycle of stagnation”, as the Bank of England hiked interest rates and predicted the longest recession in a century.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said that families were now facing “a Tory premium on mortgages”, with the 0.75 point rise to 3 per cent in the Bank’s base rate likely to be passed on in the form of more expensive home loans.
As chancellor Jeremy Hunt issued a further signal of austerity measures to come in this month’s autumn statement, there were warnings from business not to repeat the mistakes of the early 2010s by cutting government investment.