By bizn_fun 
The interest rate panel will have plenty to evaluate in the Budget – the scale and shape of tax rises, help with energy bills and possibly other cost of living challenges, and increases in the National Living Wage.
According to the Bank’s research, labour costs remain a key uncertainty for employers and also for consumer prices.
The rate setters will have to judge the impact of those policies – and the usual monthly evidence on inflation, jobs and so forth – by the next meeting in mid-December.
By, in effect, holding the cast vote, it’s the governor who may find himself deliberating whether to play Santa – or Scrooge.
If not then, economists reckon a cut will come in February.
And how many more to follow?
The Bank says it sees rates continuing on a “gradual downward path”. Some members remain nervous about lingering inflation pressures.
Its research, for example, shows our expectations of inflation are shaped by recent experience, and in particular, the movements of food prices.
We are still scarred by the impact of recent price hikes, and there’s a risk that can lead people and businesses to behave as if inflation is higher than it really is – through wage demands or price increases.
Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of homeowners could still face rising costs when renewing their mortgages if rates remain elevated.
Borrowers may expect more gifts in 2026, but they may arrive only gradually.