"Today's decision to raise interest rates by 0.25% marks an important turning point for the UK economy.
After nearly four years of falling base rates, which in turn have fuelled both the housing market and consumer borrowing to record levels, the Bank of England have decided that the party must end before it gets out of hand.
Over recent years, consumer expenditure has acted as a useful prop for the UK economy at a time when many other countries have suffered during the global downturn. However, against a backdrop of an improving international and domestic economic environment, today's decision will rightly put the onus onto other areas of the economy to drive economic growth going forward in the absence of a rampant consumer sector."
