The meeting came ahead of the first meeting of May’s new Cabinet committee, focused on economic and industrial strategy.
Mike Cherry, chairman of the Federation of Small Businesses, said: “Our members want access to European markets, the ability to hire the right people, reassurance on key EU-funded schemes and a new approach to both regulation and deregulation.”
May said Britain’s 5.4 million small and medium-sized business “put food on families’ tables and underpin the strength of our economy”. She added that they were part of her vision of “building a country that works for everyone, not just the privileged few”.
Today’s expected cut in base rate from 0.5% to 0.25% comes after increasing evidence from a swathe of economic surveys that the UK economy slowed down sharply after the vote to leave the European Union. In the past few days, results from the manufacturing, construction and the services sector showed they were contracting rather than growing.
The Bank’s quarterly inflation report, published today, highlighted the growing risk Britain falling into recession in the near future.
Although the Monetary Policy Committee surprised financial markets last month by delaying a cut in interest rates, Governor Mark Carney has constantly stressed that the Bank would “not hesitate to take any additional measures required”.
Kallum Pickering, an economist at Berenberg, said: “The Bank’s challenge is to send a well-balanced signal of a firm intent without exacerbating the existing blow to confidence coming from Brexit.”
