Banks under fire for failing to pass on interest rate cuts

Britain’s biggest banks came under fire for raising mortgage rates on Friday, just weeks after the Bank of England base rate dropped to 1.5 per cent, after promising MPs they would try to boost lending. Barclays, which recently announced a profit of more than £1 billion in the past year, has been singled out by moneyfacts as the worst offender. It has reduced rates paid to savers more than any other high street bank, while it has the highest standard variable rate and has failed to pass on every second bank rate cut to customers.