Brown Fuels Clamour for Bank to Cut Interest Rates Monetary Policy: Pressure Mounts on Bank of England as Growth Forecasts Are Slashed

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PRESSURE ON the Bank of England to cut interest rates intensified last night after Chancellor Gordon Brown slashed his growth forecast for next year and new figures showed the engineering industry in recession and bankruptcies on the rise.

On the stock market, the FTSE100 Index staged its biggest one- day points rally ever, gaining 205.3 points or 4.4 per cent, as dealers looked forward to a rate cut from the Bank's Monetary Policy Committee on Thursday. It starts its two-day meeting today.

The pound also slipped by a further two pfennigs against the German mark although it rallied later in the day to close unchanged at DM2.7630. Speaking in Washington, Mr Brown …