MOUNTING pressure on the Bank of England to cut the base rate has been described by Scottish economists and business leaders as a virtual irrelevance.
In a gloomy quarterly inflation report, Governor Sir Mervyn King slashed the 2012 growth forecast to zero and predicted only weak growth until 2015.
In its wake a selection of Scotland's foremost economy-watchers all agreed that the rate cut from 0.5% to 0.25% called for by groups like the British Chambers of Commerce and the Ernst & Young Item Club would do little to provide a stimulus.
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