Hopes of interest rate cut dashed by Bank of England economist

Huw Pill, chief economist at the Bank of England, said it was a matter of when, not if, rates would be cut. Photograph: Suzanne Plunkett/Reuters

Households’ hopes of a cut in interest rates have received a setback after the chief economist of the Bank of England warned that key measures of inflation remained “uncomfortably high”.

Huw Pill, one of the nine members of Threadneedle Street’s monetary policy committee (MPC), strongly hinted he would vote to keep official borrowing costs at 5.25% when he said wage growth and inflation in the services sector were proving persistent.