who is responsible for setting interest rates in the uk
Economy of the United Kingdom Government involvement in the British economy is primarily exercised by Her Majesty's Treasury, headed by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. Since 1979 management of the economy has followed a broadly laissez-faire approach.[51][52][26][27][53][54] The Bank of England is the UK's central bank and its Monetary Policy Committee is responsible for setting interest rates, quantitative easing, and forward guidance.
United Kingdom national debt Due to the Government's significant budget deficit, the national debt is increasing by approximately £73.5 billion per annum, or around £1.4 billion each week.[2] The Conservatives pledged in 2010 that they would eliminate the deficit by the 2015/16 financial year.[3] However, by 2014 they admitted that the structural deficit would not be eliminated until the financial year 2017/18.[4] This forecast was pushed back to 2018/19 in March 2015, and to 2019/20 in July 2015,[5] before the target of a return to surplus at any particular time was finally abandoned by the then Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne in July 2016.[6]