Chancellor of the Exchequer Darling has today given broad hints that he expects the Bank of England to cut rates further. The Chancellor was giving interviews to announce £4 bln extra cash available for banks to lend to small and medium businesses. He said “I am not going to tell the Bank of England what to do” but added “It’s remit is sufficiently broad to enable it to tackle, first, inflation, and inflation is soon coming down, but also to support the Government in its wider economic objectives” and “The Governor is very aware of the need to do whatever he can to support the wider economy.” Well, can’t get any clearer than that. Let’s just hope we see at least another 50 bps cut next week, and not some piffling 25 bps (although it’s hard to see the Old Lady being so conservative given the ongoing evidence of a quickly slowing economy.)