Campaigners call + celebrate: no rate rises from the Bank of England!
Today, the Bank of England thankfully decided to hold interest rates at 3.75% - after we headed down to Threadneedle Street to demand them not to raise rates again.
2026 was meant to be the year rates kept coming down but the ongoing war in Iran is keeping our energy and food bills high. Unfortunately, interest rates are the *wrong tool* to deal with supply-side inflation like this, all they do instead is drive up our debt, rent, mortgage payments whilst handing even more record-breaking profits to the big banks - as Lloyds bank is proof of this week - reporting a 33% jump in Q1 profits from last year thanks to higher rates.
The very least the government and Chancellor Rachel Reeves can do is #TaxTheBanks to claw some of these windfall profits back and help those suffering most from the cost of living crisis!
Read more details here: https://positivemoney.org/uk/update/bank-of-england-no-rate-rises/
To: Chancellor Rachel Reeves
#TaxTheBanks
Impose a windfall tax on bank profits and make them pay their fair share!
Why is this important?
Years of higher interest rates have sent our rent, mortgage, and debt payments soaring, while banks have raked in huge profits for doing absolutely nothing.
The big four UK banks (Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds, and NatWest) made a record pre-tax profit of £45.9 billion in 2024 and £45.7bn in 2025. [1]
The big four UK banks (Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds, and NatWest) made a record pre-tax profit of £45.9 billion in 2024 and £45.7bn in 2025. [1]
Introducing a 38% levy, in line with the Energy Profits Levy on oil and gas companies who also profited from the cost of living crisis, could bring in over £12 billion. [2]
Banks are (unsurprisingly) against this; the CEOs of Lloyds, Barclays, and HSBC have publicly begged Rachel Reeves not to - and been rewarded with huge bonuses for successfully lobbying against a windfall tax in last year's Autumn Budget. [3]
Introducing a windfall tax on banks would clearly signal the kind of change Rachel Reeves and Keir Starmer promised to deliver and that millions of us desperately want to see, and help to prove that Labour aren’t in the pocket of big donors or beholden to corporate lobbyists from the City.
As the cost of living crisis rages on, a tax on banks is a much fairer place to start than raiding the accounts of ordinary savers and small businesses.
Add your name now to tell Rachel Reeves to #TaxTheBanks.
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