The Bank of England should keep interest rates on hold until upside risks to inflation - including those posed by the election of Donald Trump as the United States' next president - dissipate, a top BoE official said on Thursday.

The central bank said future cuts would be gradual amid higher inflation forecasts after the new government introduced spending and tax increases in its budget.

Markets await US inflation for clues on further Fed rate cuts. Opus Energy has agreed to pay more than £7m in refunds, redress and goodwill payments after the regulator Ofgem found that the company overcharged almost 88,

High inflation in Britain has not been vanquished and there is a risk that some drivers of price growth could be heading upwards, Bank of England interest rate-setter Catherine Mann said on Wednesday.