Interest rates live: Bank of England expected to cut rate for third time this year

Gordon Brown has urged ministers to hike taxes on online casinos and slot machines to cover the cost of lifting children out of poverty.

Reforms to gambling taxes could generate the £3.2 billion needed to scrap the two-child limit and benefit cap, the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) said.

The think tank’s latest research said axing the policies could lift half a million children out of poverty and “reverse years of rising hardship for low-income families”.

Rachel Reeves faces an “impossible trilemma” ahead of the autumn budget and must raise taxes or tear up her flagship borrowing rules to fill a £50bn black hole left by Labour U-turns, higher borrowing and sluggish economic growth, top economists have warned.

In order to restore the £9.9bn buffer the government has maintained since last year’s Budget, the chancellor must therefore raise a total of £51.1bn.

Millie Cooke and Kate Devlin have the detail:

The MPC have a lot to weigh up before deciding whether to hold, cut or raise interest rates at any given point.

Right now, members will be considering domestic inflation as a primary factor, for sure, but also economic growth and business investment prospects, and job vacancies and unemployment.

Cutting rates are one way to stimulate economic growth by lowering borrowing costs, which can bring more business investments and hiring, more jobs, more spending power.

That’s more what the UK seems to need at present.

The base rate – currently at 4.25 per cent following cuts in February and May – impacts consumers and taxpayers through everything from their mortgages to savings, so what do experts foresee both next week and beyond?

Morning all and welcome to The Independent’s live business coverage.

Today’s main focus will be the Bank of England’s meeting later on and the MPC’s decision over interest rates.

Elsewhere we’ll keep you posted as always on the latest company news, stock market updates and everything else that affects your money matters.