The Bank of England kept its main interest rate unchanged at a 16-year high of 5.25% at its last meeting before July 4's UK election, but the prospect of a future rate cut moved closer as some policymakers said their thinking was now"finely balanced".
"We need to be sure that inflation will stay low and that's why we've decided to hold rates at 5.25% for now," he said. The Bank of England vote follows a long-trailed decision by the European Central Bank earlier this month to start cutting its interest rates and the Swiss National Bank's second rate cut of 2024 earlier today.
Any cut is likely to be too late for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, whose Conservative Party is around 20 points behind the opposition Labour Party in the pre-election polls. The MPC members whose views on a rate cut were"finely balanced" placed less weight on higher-than-expected May services inflation than others.