MPC hawk Sentance calls for 0.5% rate rise

Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) hawk Andrew Sentance is calling for a 0.5% rise in the Bank of England base rate, a greater hike than he has lobbied for previously.

Minutes from the Monetary Policy Committee's February meeting show the MPC rebel wants to see a full half a percentage point increase in the base rate. Bank governor Mervyn King has kept interest rates at an historic 0.5% low for 23 straight months. Fellow members Spencer Dale and Martin Weale preferred to increase the Bank Rate by 25 basis points. The minutes say for the three members calling for a rate rise, the case for removing some monetary stimulus at the February meeting was "compelling". It says: "For those members, the upside risks to the medium-term inflation outlook f...