The minutes of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting earlier this month, where the repo rate was left unchanged at 4.75%, have revealed that two of the nine members of the Committee (Charles Bean and Marian Bell) voted for a 25 basis point cut. The other seven MPC members voted for no change. The minutes were more dovish than commentators had expected: “Although output growth had so far been fairly resilient in the face of weaker consumption, GDP growth was likely to be weaker than in the May Inflation Report central projection, not withstanding the shift in market interest rates. Inflation might therefore be below target in the medium term. While there were arguments in favour of waiting for more information before taking action, that risked the slowdown in consumption becoming more entrenched. A small reduction in rates now might obviate the need for a larger reduction in interest rates at a later date.”