To no-one's great surprise, the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) announced (external website) at midday today its decision to cut UK interest rates by 25 base points, to 5%.

The MPC's decision to cut rates this month had already been telegraphed by Bank of England governor Mervyn King in recent weeks.

There is something of an air of relief hanging over Jaguar and Land Rover this week following their sale to India’s Tata Group.

Although Unite-TGWU’s Tony Woodley was somewhat lacking in enthusiasm, commenting that he would rather Ford had kept the car makers “in the family”, he did admit that if a sale had to take place then “Tata was the best option”.

The Office for National Statistics has updated the "shopping basket" of 650 goods and services it uses to calculate the two main measures of inflation, the consumer prices index and the retail prices index.

The changes are introduced with the February 2008 figures published today.

Alongside the Budget, the Treasury also published Enterprise: Unlocking the UK’s talent, which focuses on entrepreneurial culture, business growth and skills.

As Alistair Darling sits down, we step up with the key economic and employment points from his 12 March 2008 Budget.

There may still be 48 hours until the Budget, but the pundits are getting their judgements in early. And what a cheerful bunch they are.

At the Financial Times, Philip Stephens reckons that with the economy in its present state there is little that chancellor Alistair Darling can do – and that he really ought to keep things as brief as possible and sit down as soon as he can.

Alistair Darling will deliver his first Budget speech to the Commons on Wednesday 12 March. We will, of course, be highlighting implications for employers here on the day, and the Treasury has already set aside a Budget 2008 page on its website.

But what can we expect this year from the first new chancellor of the exchequer since Gordon Brown rose to address expectant MPs way back in 1997?