HIGHER INTEREST RATES AND THE MONETARY POLICY COMMITTEE

That this House regrets the decision of the Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) to raise interest rates yet again, to a level higher than short-term bank rates in Europe, Japan and the US and at a time when the main inflationary pressures come not from wages and salaries but from food, fuel and utility prices, which higher interest rates cannot check; points out that this and the other recent increases sustain the overvaluation of sterling, damaging manufacturing and exports, compound the trading difficulties of the high street and the burdens on householders in the UK's indebted society, hold back investment and increase all costs; and therefore suggests that the MPC in determining interest rates should be required to take more account of the strength and growth of the economy and the competitiveness of the exchange rate.