NEWS RELEASE
10 June 2004
STUC COMMENTS ON BANK OF ENGLAND'S DECISION TO RAISE INTEREST RATES
Commenting on the decision of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee to raise interest rates to 4.5%, Stephen Boyd, STUC Assistant Secretary, said:
"The STUC welcomes recent signs of a recovery in the Scottish manufacturing industry. However, we are concerned that it continues to perform poorly relative to the UK as a whole and we fear that the upward trend in interest rates could spell further bad news for manufacturing jobs.
"While it is unclear whether interest rates of around 5% will have any discernible impact on the credit and house price booms, the consequences for manufacturing industry in Scotland are likely to be negative.
"The STUC General Council will relate these concerns directly to Mervyn King, Governor of the Bank of England when we meet in Glasgow on Monday 14th June."
ENDS
For further information and comment, contact:
Stephen Boyd