FEARS for the economy grew today as the Bank of England kept interest rates at 4.5 per cent amid global trade uncertainty following new US tariffs.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham warned that inertia from the bank is “not going to help an economy on life support.”

“Rising inflation is a concern,” she said, “but as we’ve seen throughout the cost-of-living crisis, high interest rates are a blunt stick hitting workers and their families the hardest.”

TUC general secretary Paul Nowak said: “The UK has been much slower than many other countries to bring interest rates down from their recent peak.

“We hope the [bank] will soon return to cutting rates.”

Positive Money campaign group’s Simon Youel added:  “Pausing rate cuts right now because of a small uptick in inflation and Trump’s tumultuous tariff announcements is a huge misstep from the bank, especially when the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development just downgraded the UK’s growth forecast.”