Will UK interest rates now stay low for a very long time?

Each time the Bank of England appears to succumb to a burst of hopefulness, officials seize on some reason not to raise rates above 0.5%

Bank of England governor Mark Carney has already faced accusations of behaving like the Grand old Duke of York and he will probably do so again should Britain's central bank opt to keep interest rates on hold.

Since he joined the Bank in 2013, he has marched borrowers and savers up the hill with heavy hints about the imminent prospect of a rate rise, only to march them back down again. Last November's restoration of 2016's emergency rate cut hardly qualified as a major move, whatever the Bank said about its significance.