MPC votes 'should be announced sooner'

A new report from parliament's Treasury Committee has recommended that the Bank of England reveal how its policymakers have voted at the same time as announcing its interest rate decisions.

The Bank already publishes minutes of the monthly meetings of the monetary policy committee (MPC) one fortnight after the rate decision, but this latest report says that is too belated and it does little to quell market uncertainty.

"When unexpected policy decisions are made by the MPC, it seems important that financial markets know as soon as possible how close those votes were," said Treasury Committee chairman John McFall.

Referring to last January's unexpected interest rate hike which was followed by intense market speculation, Mr McFall added: "The system at the moment seems to encourage two weeks of greater uncertainty than is necessary."

A Treasury spokesman sidestepped the call to make clear the degree of unanimity in rate decisions by focusing instead on the achievements of the Bank since it became independent in 1997.

"The success of the monetary policy framework can be clearly seen by macroeconomic outcomes in the past decade," said the spokesman, drawing particular attention to the successful anchoring of inflation to government targets.

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