The Monetary Policy Committee voted 6–3 to hold Bank Rate for a fifth consecutive meeting, with three members pushing for a rise to 4% — the most divided split seen this year.
Three members of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee wanted to raise interest rates at the meeting ending 29 July 2026, but were outvoted six to three, leaving Bank Rate unchanged at 3.75 per cent. The figures show this is the fifth consecutive meeting at which the MPC has held rates at that level, following the last change — a 0.25 percentage point cut — back in December 2025.
The three dissenting members — Megan Greene, Catherine L Mann and Huw Pill — each backed a rise to 4 per cent. They were outvoted by Governor Andrew Bailey alongside Sarah Breeden, Swati Dhingra, Clare Lombardelli, Dave Ramsden and Alan Taylor. Compared with the March 2026 meeting, when all nine members voted unanimously to hold, the shift is striking: the committee is now clearly more divided as geopolitical tensions and energy price risks push inflation concerns back up the agenda.
The Bank signalled it stands ready to raise rates if upside risks to inflation — especially from instability in the Middle East and its effect on energy markets — actually materialise. That’s a meaningful caveat for anyone watching their mortgage or business loan costs.
For Kent households and businesses, the hold means no immediate change to variable-rate mortgage repayments or credit costs. But the 6–3 split tells a different story about where rates might go next. Homeowners in Canterbury, Maidstone, Medway, Dartford and Thanet who are approaching the end of fixed-rate deals will need to factor in a genuine possibility of higher rates when they remortgage. Businesses along the M2 and M20 corridors — in logistics, manufacturing and retail — face borrowing costs that remain linked to Bank Rate and could yet rise if the Bank’s hawks get their way. Savers, meanwhile, continue to benefit from rates well above the near-zero levels of the early 2020s, though there’s no increase on offer from this decision.
The December 2025 cut that brought Bank Rate down to 3.75 per cent was itself tight — a 5–4 majority. The fact that three members now want to reverse part of that move, compared with only one dissenter at the April 2026 meeting, suggests the MPC’s internal debate is moving in one direction. Whether that translates into an actual rise will depend heavily on how inflation and global energy prices develop over the coming months.
Source: @bankofengland