Bank of England policymaker is behind the curve on wages

If the MPC's Ian McCafferty were to indulge in the economics of walking about, he might observe that workers are in no position to provoke pay inflation

So it was an apology of sorts, but with a sting in the tail: Bank of England policymakers don't like to say sorry. It was in this vein that Ian McCafferty - a former chief economist for the CBI, who joined the Bank's nine-strong monetary policy committee (MPC) in the autumn of 2012 - said he had twice made the mistake of calling for higher interest rates.

In each case, his reasoning was that wages were about to take off and would push up prices. The first time was in August 2014, when he was joined by fellow MPC member Martin Weale. Then he did it on his own, between August last year and January, before finally abandoning his campaign.

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