Inside Business

Both the retailers’ trade body and the CBI, which reports rapid private sector growth, raise concerns about labour shortages, shipping costs and other inflationary pressures. How long, asks James Moore, will the Bank of England remain sanguine about inflation?

Shop till you drop... but prices aren’t going to fall for much longer

(Getty/iStock)

The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee has been powered by the wings of a flock of interest-rate doves for a long time now.

Even the most hawkish of its members, Andy Haldane, didn’t dissent when it came to keeping rates at their historically low 0.1 per cent during his last few meetings as a member of that august body, despite giving speeches warning of the danger of the inflation wolf, now busily sharpening its claws.

He chose to show his concern through dissenting votes on the bank’s programme of government bond purchases during both the May and June meetings (the latter being his last) instead.