One chart showing why it doesn’t really matter how many members of the monetary policy committee voted for an interest rate rise
Given it's been held at 0.5 per cent since what feels like the dawn of time, there isn't an awful lot to say about UK interest rates these days – so when monetary policy committee (MPC) meeting time comes around, analysts tend to busy themselves looking at details.
Thus, the fact Ian McCafferty was again alone in voting in favour of a rate rise became one of the most talked-about aspects about this month's meeting. Had another MPC member – Kristin Forbes or Martin Weale, for instance – to join him, that would set off a wave of market-moving speculation.
But Pantheon Macroeconomics makes the point that such speculation is almost completely meaningless.
"We wouldn't place much weight on the unchanged interest rate vote," wrote its chief UK economist, Samuel Tombs, today.
"Interest rate increases have been preceded by zero votes to raise rates just as frequently as when a small minority of members have voted to hike."
Don't believe him? Here's a chart to prove it.
