Bank of England warns ‘the good times are over’

Britons face real cut in the standard of living

The good times are gone and there is now a real risk of recession, the Bank of England warned yesterday.

Families face a five-pronged assault on their finances, Governor Mervyn King said in his bleakest assessment yet of the state of the country.

In his quarterly Inflation Report, Mr King said although Britain had enjoyed rising living standards over the past ten years, this golden period was over.

“For the time being at least, the nice decade is behind us,” he added.

And the governor predicted: