ECB cut UK interest rates by pumping €300bn into Britain

Europe’s money-printing programme pumped hundreds of billions of pounds into the UK, the central bank for central banks has found, pushing down interest rates even further in Britain. Quantitative easing (QE) pushes down long-term interest rates in an effort to stimulate economic growth. But because this was happening on a grand scale just across the Channel from Britain’s major financial centre, as much as €300bn of the European Central Bank’s QE ended up buying assets from institutions in the UK in the scheme's first three years.