Residents of Lincoln have hit out at the UK government, as the Bank of England announced the latest interest rates today.
The Bank has held the base interest rates at 5.25%, keeping the figures at a 15-year high for Brits.
The decision to hold the rate follows a 14th consecutive increase between December 2021 and August 2023.
Governor of the Bank of England Andrew Bailey stressed there is “still some way to go” in policymakers’ efforts to get inflation down.
The Bank of England has kept interest rates at 5.25%
GB News
GB News Economics and Business Editor Liam Halligan said that the rates are "no surprise" for British workers.
Halligan predicted that the UK could see an interest rate cut by 0.25% in March or April next year.
GB News reporter Will Hollis visited a Christmas Market in Lincoln, where locals reacted to the news and how it will impact their spending this Christmas.
One man told Will that they will "not be spending the same" this Christmas, as they have done in previous years.
He told GB News that the interest rates mean "very little" to him and his family ahead of the festive period.
He added: "We bumble along just as we are, whatever they do."
Another visitor at the market said: "Really spending as little as possible. There's only two of us in the house at the moment anyway, so we're just going to treat it as a normal day.
"Cutting back on fancy food, drink, going out. Just staying at home and watching TV, basically."
A Lincoln resident fumed at the 'disgusting' state of the UK government
GB News
Another local resident, who works as a cook in a residential home, raged at the UK government's efforts to increase wages and decrease inflation.
She fumed: "Wages aren't going up and I'm a low earner compared to the country, because the money is rubbish. The government needs to get some money together for the working people.
"I think the working people today, with children and without children, the money isn't there. I can't spend what I used to spend 10 years ago, I haven't got the money. I haven't got it. As simple as that, and I work.
She explained: "I have to budget. I have to budget everything now. I haven't got the money, what I had 20 years ago, the money isn't there. They haven't kept up with inflation with money. I think wages are terrible. Minimum wage, that's what I'm on. It's disgusting.
"You get people on the dole and Social Security, I have to get up at four in the morning to go to work. These people are laid in bed till two, that's not right. We keep this country going, the workers, the low class workers. We keep it going.
"I budget my money wisely, but it's presents. I give to charity, but I've had to cut that in the head this year. I cannot do it. I just can't do it and I feel terrible."
