'No surprise if August hike is shelved': Haldane rebels as Bank of England leaves rates unchanged

Rates remain at 0.5%

The Bank of England (BoE) has held interest rates at 0.5% following a string of weak data, although three MPC members voted to hike rates including BoE chief economist Andy Haldane.

Voting to hike rates with Haldane was 'perma-hawk' Ian McCafferty and Michael Saunders, who were the only two members who voted to increase rates at the previous Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting in May. This is the first time Haldane has not voted with the majority since he joined the MPC in June 2014 and surprised commentators, who had expected a 7-2 split. The MPC minutes said: "[The three] members had a higher degree of confidence that the slowdown in Q1 was temporary or erratic and would largely be unwound. "They felt the economy was developing broadly in line with the M...