Committee pressed to leave interest rates alone

The Monetary Policy Committee must not raise interest rates when it meets on Thursday, the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) has warned.

The committee is under pressure to raise the figure from its historic low of 0.5 per cent to help curb rising inflation. However, David Kern, the BCC's chief economist, said: "The UK recovery is still fragile. Raising interest rates at the same time fiscal policy is being tightened could risk derailing it."