Bad weather delayed a rate rise. Now the political climate’s the problem

The Bank of England is signalling that interest rates might increase. There are still good reasons to hold off

It's early February all over again inside the Bank of England. Not that governor Mark Carney and his colleagues in Threadneedle Street are missing out on the good weather: it's just that they are all making speeches about how they are poised, should the economic climate be conducive, to raise interest rates.

Carney wrote to the chancellor, Philip Hammond, on 8 February to say it was "appropriate to set monetary policy so that inflation returns sustainably to its target", after previously resisting the temptation to increase rates in times of high inflation to support jobs and growth.