Emily McGarvey
Live reporter

That brings our live coverage of today's interest rates decision to a close.

But there's plenty more for you to read on the announcement and what it means for you:

• How the Bank of England's decision affects you and your money
• What is the UK inflation rate and how does it affect me?
• And to read more about cost of living payments, look here

Today's live page was written by Tara Mewawalla, Lora Jones, Dearbail Jordan, and edited by me.

Lora Jones
Business reporter

We'll shortly be ending our live coverage of today's interest rate decision. To sum up what we saw:

• The Bank of England held the base interest rate at 5.25%
• It marks the third time in a row that the UK cost of borrowing remained unchanged at a 15-year high

• Governor Andrew Bailey said although "we've come a long way this year" in the fight against inflation, "there is still some way to go"
• The Bank's Monetary Policy Committee voted 6-3 to hold rates, with three of its members wanting to put them up
• In the minutes from the Bank's rate-setters' meeting, it said rates would need to stay higher "for sufficiently long" to return inflation to 2%
• It contrasts the US Federal Reserve which, on Wednesday, suggested interest rates could fall significantly next year

If you want to find out more, or get some advice on where to seek help with your mortgage or rent payments, check out our Business coverage here.

Economists are reacting to the Bank of England's decision, as well as the language it has used to forecast coming inflation and interest rates.

As a reminder, central bank Governor Andrew Bailey said earlier that he could not say definitively whether inflation had peaked, and that it is "too soon" to start thinking about cutting interest rates.

Suren Thiru, the economics director at chartered accountants group ICAEW, said the Bank was being "unnecessarily hawkish" in its language on the outlook for interest rates.

He said this was "unnecessarily damaging an already struggling economy" by "raising fears that it will keep rates high for too long".

He believes the interest rate decision is "confirmation" that the bank's hiking cycle is "completed".

In contrast, chief economic adviser to the Allianz group Mohammed El-Erian said the central bank looks "hawkish" but is "more realistic" than the Federal Reserve in the US - which indicated interest cuts to come in 2024.

He believes the UK has hit a "flat peak" of inflation and it's "going to stay here for a while before coming down".

Why no change still means change for your financespublished at 14:03 Greenwich Mean Time 14 December 2023

14:03 GMT 14 December 2023

Kevin Peachey
Cost of living correspondent

Even the decision to keep interest rates unchanged can have an impact on your individual finances.

Monthly repayments for homeowners on variable or tracker mortgages will stay the same.

But for those whose fixed deals are expiring, providers are tinkering with their remortgage rates.

Wider borrowing, such as personal loans, may start to get a little cheaper if lenders think the Bank rate will go down next year.

Savers, however, may also start to see the withdrawal of some of the best returns – so experts are urging them to shop around.

Will Autumn statement measures prevent rates from falling?published at 13:50 Greenwich Mean Time 14 December 2023

13:50 GMT 14 December 2023

Dharshini David
Chief economics correspondent

Last month’s announcement contained billions of pounds of tax cuts – and a rise of almost 10% in the National Living Wage from April.

The Bank has been generally concerned about inflation in many non-essentials, and also private sector wage growth – but has indicated these policies shouldn’t move the inflation dial much.

It estimates the tax changes will raise the level of income or GDP “by around 0.25%” but it reckons they’ll also beef up the potential of the economy – through for example greater investment or encouraging job creation - so it expects the addition to inflation pressures to be marginal.

On the new minimum wage rate, the Governor points out it’s “important for those who are on the lowest earnings. How it feeds through into inflation, it is not straightforward... We watch it very carefully but I don't think it's right to say it's obviously inflationary.”

The run of 14 rate rises that we had seen in the UK has hit some people hard, especially those on variable rate mortgages or coming off fixed-rate deals.

The charity behind the National Debtline said that the impact of higher rates "has already taken hold for millions of mortgage holders struggling" with repayments.

There's also a knock-on effect on renters as costs are passed on by landlords.

“As the cost of essentials seems set to remain high across the board, as we see at National Debtline, for people on the lowest incomes, budgets are no longer able to stretch," its boss David Cheadle said.

If you're concerned about making your payments or would like more information about where you might be able to get some advice, check out our Tackling it Together resources:

• Debt: What should I pay first and what can I do?
• Mortgage rates: Five ways to save money
• How the Bank of England's decision affects you and your money, external
• Renting: What are your rights as a tenant?

The Bank of England's interest rate has been held at 5.25% - currently its highest level for 15 years.

But for savers, higher interest rates are a good thing.

But financial advisor Emmanuel Asuquo, who regularly appears on the BBC's Your Money, Your Life, says people need to look around for the best deals because their banks might not have passed the recent interest rate rises onto them.

He says it's important to use comparison sites to work out how long you're prepared to leave that money squirrelled away.

But he recommends being flexible and warns against locking money away in the wrong account if you might need it.

Lora Jones
Business reporter

Across to another central bank today, the European Central Bank has just announced it is leaving its three key interest rates unchanged, as widely expected.

It had raised rates on its deposit facility, which determines what commercial banks receive for depositing money with the central bank overnight, to a record high of 4% earlier this year.

It didn't give much away on when it might start to cut borrowing costs, despite the fact it says it expects to hit its own inflation target by 2025.

We're hearing from a few groups that represent businesses about what they think of the Bank of England's announcement today.

The British Chambers of Commerce says that the Bank's decision to hold rates steady for now "allays fears of further rises".

Its head of research David Bharier says that firms in the UK had faced the twin shock of an inflation crisis and increased borrowing costs. He calls for "a clear direction from decision makers" to boost business confidence and investment.

The deputy chief economist at the Confederation of British Industry, Anna Leach, says that the hold was "perfectly in line with expectations".

But she warns that 2024 may well be "another year of weak growth for the UK, as the pressure of higher interest rates continues to erode household spending power and add to business cost pressures".

Bailey adds that he cannot "say definitively" that inflation has peaked, though he hopes "we are at the top of it" and sees "encouraging signs".

The governor says that the Monetary Policy Committee are "more cautious" than the markets because we need to see "a more persistent element of inflation".

Services prices, though, are "turning in the right direction quite decisively".

He adds that there is a risk of oil prices being affected by "tragic events" in the Middle East.

Governor of the Bank of England Andrew Bailey has just spoken to the media to say it is "too soon" to start thinking about cutting interest rates.

"We are making good progress", he says, adding that he's "encouraged" but there's still "more to do" in order to achieve the 2% inflation target sustainably.

Despite the "unwinding of many of the shocks" that the country's economy has felt over the past few years, he says the "persistence of inflation" remains an issue.

"I'm very encouraged by the progress we've seen. But it's too early to start speculating that we'll be cutting soon."

A clash in mood music?published at 13:00 Greenwich Mean Time 14 December 2023

13:00 GMT 14 December 2023

Dharshini David
Chief economics correspondent

It isn’t just 4,000 miles that separates the US and UK.

Compare and contrast the mood music emitting from their central banks. America’s Federal Reserve all but said that it’s done with rate hikes and the markets now expect three rate cuts there next year.

Here, a third of the Bank of England’s interest rate panel would still like to see a rate hike, the minutes of the meeting warns that rates may have to stay near current levels for “an extended period of time” and may even have to rise again if there are “persistent” inflationary pressures.

Therein lies the issue: inflation has been more stubborn, slower to fall in the UK – partly due to our reliance on imported gas, the global price of which remains far higher than a few years back.

As existing rate rises take their toll on prosperity – and bearing in mind that interest rates changes take a while to have an impact - economists do expect them to start falling next summer. But that may well be later than in the US – and indeed the EU.

Following the Bank of England's decision to hold interest rates at their 15-year high, the pound jumped to $1.27.

It also rose against the Euro, reaching €1.16.

While the signals from the Bank of England on any potential rate cut might be in stark contrast to their US counterparts, we're expecting the European Central Bank to follow suit and hold steady at their meeting today.

It's widely expected to leave rates unchanged for a second time in a row, and we'll let you know as soon as it's confirmed.

A brighter year ahead?published at 12:44 Greenwich Mean Time 14 December 2023

12:44 GMT 14 December 2023

Marc Ashdown
Business correspondent

If you want a glimpse into the future, look no further than the stock market.

Traders like to get ahead of the game, so the price of stocks, bonds, and even currencies gives a good indication of the likely direction of travel over the next year.

And today, they like what they hear.

Hot off the back of the US indicating that the all-important "pivot moment" is finally here, the markets are growing in confidence that the Bank of England will also seriously consider cutting interest rates sooner rather than later - possibly by the spring.

The FTSE 100 index of the UK's biggest companies has been soaring all day. But perhaps more importantly, the FTSE 250, which is loaded with domestic companies, was up 3% - a big move for a single trading session.

Confidence is returning - and it's good news for your pension. Funds invest in a range of big name companies, so as their value increases, so does the value of the fund.

UK bonds also reacted positively - they essentially dictate how cheap it is for the government to borrow money over a set number of years.

Stock markets are not an exact science and can be very vulnerable to global shocks, but today they seem to be pointing to a brighter year ahead.

Image source, PA Media

The majority of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) members voting today - six out of nine - voted to hold interest rates at 5.25%.

Three of the policymakers voted to raise interest rates to 5.5% because they said household incomes in the UK have risen and inflationary pressures have remained elevated.

Megan Greene, Jonathan Haskel and Catherine Mann thought a 0.25% increase was necessary to address "the risks of more deeply embedded inflation persistence" and to return inflation to the 2% target "sustainably in the medium-term".

However, the majority of the MPC felt that keeping rates at 5.25% was necessary because UK economic activity remains subdued.

Mortgage rate cuts despite Bank rate holdpublished at 12:31 Greenwich Mean Time 14 December 2023

12:31 GMT 14 December 2023

Kevin Peachey
Cost of living correspondent

Despite the Bank rate remaining unchanged at 5.25%, some mortgage lenders are making moves with their own rates.

Virgin Money and HSBC are reducing rates on their new fixed deals today. TSB will follow suit tomorrow.

So, they are not waiting for a move from the Bank of England. Instead, they are confident the next move is down, even though policymakers are very guarded about if - and when - that might come.

Lora Jones
Business reporter

We've been digging through the minutes of the Bank's latest key meeting.

Its Monetary Policy Committee meets eight times a year to set rates and this was their last meeting of the year (although our business reporter Dearbail Jordan told us there were sadly no mince pies).

Its target is to keep inflation - the official measure of how quickly prices are rising - at 2%.

On the cost of living squeeze, it says that it expects inflation to remain at about 4.6% until the end of the year, with services inflation likely to increase in January, falling back a bit afterwards.

Image source, Reuters

Interest rates have, as expected, remained steady at 5.25%.

Governor of the Bank of England Andrew Bailey says the country has "come a long way this year" and successive rate increases have "helped bring inflation down" from over 10% in January to 4.6% in October.

But, in a sign that cuts in the base rate are unlikely soon, he stresses there is "still some way to go" in policymakers' efforts to bring inflation down "all the way back to 2%".

He says the central bank will "continue to watch the data closely" and "take the decisions necessary" to lower inflation.

No change - but more pain for somepublished at 12:14 Greenwich Mean Time 14 December 2023

12:14 GMT 14 December 2023

Dharshini David
Chief economics correspondent

The Bank of England’s decision to leave rates was unsurprising: inflation is falling but remains above its 2% target. Two areas they’ve previously expressed concern about – services inflation and private sector wage growth – are easing but have further to go before the Bank is comfortable.

The Bank’s governor has previously warned that "the last mile" is the hardest. In fact, the Bank projects that inflation will still be a touch above target in two years. That persistence is why some members of the panel want another rise.

Remember, it takes a year or two for interest rates to take full effect. Over half of households with a mortgage have already seen those bills jump, more will follow as they re-fix deals on rates that remain higher than a few years ago. That may mean more hesitant spending, smaller profits and less job creation.

The Bank reiterates that, even with the tax cuts of the Autumn Statement, it expects the economy to basically flatline for the next couple of years.

We've got some reaction in from the Treasury, the government ministry which decides how much money is raised through taxes, how to spend it and how to manage the wider economy.

A spokesperson said: "We have turned a corner in our fight against inflation and real wages are rising, but we must keep driving inflation out of the economy to reach our 2% target.

“By cutting taxes for hard working people and businesses, and helping people into work, we are forecast to deliver the largest boost to potential GDP on record.”