The Chancellor said he would use digital technology to help restrict public spending without cutting public services to cut rates, Mr Hunt replied: “Chancellors never comment on decisions made by the Bank of England on interest rates. But what I can say is that the Office for Budget Responsibility predicted at the Budget that inflation would fall to around target in the next few months, and that gives the best possible prospect of interest rates starting to fall.
” Data from the Office for National Statistics is expected to show on Wednesday that the annual rate of inflation fell to 3.5 per cent in February, down from 4 per cent the month before. The Bank is likely to confirm on Thursday that it is holding interest rates at 5.25, but they are set to fall later this year according to financial markets. Speaking to the House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee, the Chancellor also laid out details of his plan to restrict public spending increases to no more than 1 per cent a year. He said: “We don’t believe that the increases in the tax burden that we’ve seen in the last few years should become irreversible.” He said: “Things that we weren’t able to think about in 2010 such as the IT revolution are possible no