The Bank of England is expected to cut interest rates to 4 percent or below from 4.5 percent on Thursday due to the bad economic outlook.

The global financial crisis weighed heavy on consumer morale in October and fears about banks' stability and the economy made people reluctant to save or spend, a survey showed on Friday.

Household gas prices are unlikely to fall until early next year and will only be cut then if wholesale costs continue to weaken over winter.

The average petrol price fell over the weekend below 1 pound a litre, for the first time in almost a year, the AA said on Monday.

English and Welsh house prices fell by 7.3 percent in the year to October, with the pace of decline accelerating to take prices back to their lowest since March 2006, property consultancy Hometrack said on Monday.

Mortgage lenders will have to prove they have tried to help struggling homeowners avoid losing their property, under new rules brought in by the government on Wednesday aimed at reducing repossessions.

The number of properties changing hands halved in September compared to a year earlier, as the fallout of the global credit crunch crippled mortgage issuance, turning the country's housing boom into bust.

Gross mortgage lending fell 10 percent in September to the lowest level for any month since January 2005, hit by weak demand and the global financial crisis, Britain's Council of Mortgage Lenders said on Monday.

Asking prices for homes in England and Wales fell 4.9 percent on a year ago in October compared with a 3.3 percent annual fall in September, a survey showed on Monday, as the housing market slowdown gains momentum.

Two top ten shareholders in Lloyds TSB Plc. said on Thursday they are prepared to back the bank's takeover of HBOS even if the combined bank is barred from paying dividends for a time.

Unemployment shot up at its fastest pace since the early 1990s recession this summer and experts are predicting even bigger rises ahead as the financial crisis takes it toll on companies right across the economy.

Gloom in the housing market, where data showed confidence at a record low on Tuesday, is not expected to lift in the short term, as it will take time for the government's plan to bail out banks to feed through.

The government waded in with 37 billion pounds of taxpayers' cash to bail out three major banks on Monday, in a move that could make it their main shareholder.

The decline in house prices accelerated in September and sales fell to the lowest level in at least 30 years, a survey showed Tuesday, in a sign the housing market slump may have some way to go yet.

A diplomatic row has broken out between Iceland and Britain over how to deal with hundreds of millions of pounds of British deposits trapped in collapsed Icelandic banks.

HBOS, Lloyds TSB and Barclays will pass on to borrowers the full benefits of a surprise half a percentage point cut in interest rates by the Bank of England.

Bank savings of up to 50,000 pounds will be guaranteed by the government from next week and the sum could be further increased as regulators battle to restore confidence in the banking sector.

Inflation shot up to a 16-year high in August, making it harder for the Bank of England to cut interest rates to ease the economic pain of what many are describing as the worst financial market crisis in a generation.

Tax loopholes exploited by the rich that cost the exchequer up to 40 billion pounds a year would be closed down by a Liberal Democrat government, the party pledged on Monday.