Is Bank of England about to break precedent on interest rates?

Markets expect 0.5 percentage-point rise for first time since independence as inflation rises

The US Federal Reserve has done it. The European Central Bank has done it. Now the Bank of England must decide whether to follow suit and opt for a bigger than usual rise in official borrowing costs when it meets on Thursday.

After edging rates up by a quarter-point at a time, the financial markets are betting that Threadneedle Street's monetary policy committee (MPC) will announce a 0.5 percentage-point jump this time, something that has never happened since the Bank was granted independence in 1997.