Welcome to This Is Money Podcast. I'm Georgie Frost and joining me today is editor Simon Lambert.

And coming up, interest rates rise by the largest amount in decades.

Why is the Bank of England done it and what does it mean for your money?

Despite rising rates, savers are still losing out. So what can you do?

Also today, stealth tax hikes are on the way.

They sound so much more palatable than a tax hike, but it's often worse, warned Simon. Plus, gas prices are down. Will our energy bills fall? And should you consider investing in a VCT? Don't forget you stay up to date with all the latest breaking money news. Just go to this ismoney.co.com or download the app. Market updates and conversations around the financial world don't have to be boring.

The Digest and Invest podcast by E-Toro is a great way to tune into what's happening in a fun and easily digestible format.

Discover the Digest and Invest podcast at E-Toro.com forward slash academy forward-slash podcasts.

But first, the Bank of England has upped the base rate from 2.25% to 3% as it continues to try to bring inflation in line.

The 0.75 percentage point rise is the biggest base rate hike since October 1989.

And it's the eighth consecutive rate hike since December 2021 leading to significant rises in our mortgage rates and savings rate. So Simon firstly,

not a massive surprise was it? Why have they done it? Not a massive surprise. It was pretty much

baked in the 0.75% titch point rise. Although there was some talk that they could go for only half a percent, they have chosen to follow the Fed, which did 0.75 percentage points yesterday as well. Although actually the Bank of England and NPC would have voted by that point. I'm pretty sure

that the decision was already in. We just didn't know it. But it is a curious situation

because we have the Bank of England delivering its largest rate hike since 1989.

And it's also worth noting that in terms of how much of an impact this has, compared to where

the base rate is, this is actually considerably bigger.

Because back then, rates went up by 1.13%, from 13.75% to 14.88%. But that is obviously a smaller proportion of the number

that they started with back then than going from 2.25% to 3%. So it's pretty big. Yet, what did the Bank of England tell us? It told us that it's raising

rates by this much. We're going to get a very long and painful recession that inflation is going to fall as of the middle of next year.

And it's not just going to fall. It's going to drop below its target and remain below its

target for some time. Meanwhile, in the press conference, after the rate decision, we had

...