MPC wary of eurozone shocks

The Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) remains split on interest rates despite UK inflation remaining at a two-and-a-half-year high, as fears of a eurozone shock persist.

At the meeting earlier this month, the committee decided to keep the base rate at 0.5% - the historic low first set back in March 2009 - while also maintaining the quantitative easing (QE) programme at £200bn. According to the minutes released today, only Spencer Dale and Martin Weale of the nine-man committee sought to increase rates, by 25 basis points. They were the only hawks calling for a rate rise now that Andrew Sentance, who argued for an increase to 1% in his final month on the committee, has exited. The committee left rates on hold even with inflation remaining at a two-a...