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The daily grim economic news

Andrew Neil | 10:45 UK time, Thursday, 4 December 2008

bank.jpgAll eyes on the this morning, with much speculation about how much it will cut interest rates, currently at 3% after it axed them by a record 1.5% a month ago.

The decision will be taken against the drum beat of daily grim economic news: only this morning we learned that on November 2007, a devastating drop, while too: last month they were over 16% lower, on average, than a year ago.

All economic indicators suggest this recession is going to be deep and prolonged, which might encourage the Bank to be bold for a second month in a row. The credit markets are expecting another 1.5% cut while City economists predict 0.75%. Split the difference and 1% would seem a reasonable guess. Whatever it is, we will bring it to you live as we come on air at Noon.damiangreen.jpg

Unusually, the economy is not the only story in town. The fallout from Damian Green's arrest continues to rumble through the political system, threatening everybody from senior police officers to the Speaker of the Commons in the process. Westminster is still pretty dumbfounded by , the Sergeant at Arms whom he helped to appoint, for been responsible for allowing police officers to search Mr Green's Commons office last week without a legal warrant. The row overshadowed yesterday's Queen Speech. If she'd watched any of the bulletins last night she might have thought why did I bother to turn up. This morning ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Secretary Jaqui Smith will be making a statement to the Commons.

But we won't be ignoring the Queens Speech! 14 bills with crime, welfare and finance topping agenda, the lowest number of bills since Labour came to power. Mr Brown said the measures announced yesterday would help Britain through the economic downturn and prepare it for the upturn that would follow (whenever that might be!). We'll be discussing the measures in greater detail and also be discussing - no sign of the Bill of Rights, for instance, even though that had been a long-standing pledge. queen.jpg

We'll have a panel from all three main parties to discuss all of this. From the government, the Transport Secretary, Geoff Hoon. From the Conservative party, the Shadow Business Secretary Alan Duncan. And from the Liberal Democrats, their Treasury Spokesman, Vince Cable.
Hope to see you at Noon on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ2 for a packed edition of the Daily Politics.

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