Inflation

Andrew Sentance, a member of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), has broken ranks and publicly accused (at a speech at the Institute for Economic Affairs) Mervyn King and fellow members of the MPC of "selling Britain by the pound".

Sentance is of the view that King and the Bank are far too optimistic about how quickly inflation will fall back to its 2% target, and believes that the MPC has delayed for too long raising interest rates.

He is to my view wrong, any rise in interest rates now before the effects of Osborne's austerity budget kicks in will risk pushing the British economy "over the edge" into another recession. The economy can withstand a short term inflation rate of between 4%-5%, most certainly as there will be strong downward pressure brought to bear on it by the austerity budget.

The MPC should hold its nerve, and keep interest rates as they are for the foreseeable future.