There’s a case for a larger cut in base rate according to one of the Bank of England’s own monetary policy committee members. 

Last week the rate was cut from 4.75% to 4.5% with the prevailing wisdom suggesting that the threat of a return to higher inflation deterred the MPC from agreeing a large cut.

But MPC memberCatherine Mann, an American economist, told an audience in Leeds that she currently did not see a repeat of an extended period of inflation in the months to come, such as that which followed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

She described herself as an “activist” on the MPC, having herself voted last week for a half percentage point interest rate reduction.

But Sky News reports that while she cautioned that while her policy path differed to the majority view for “gradual” rate reductions, the Bank rate would need to remain restrictive for longer.

Mann had been considered the MPC’s most influential ‘hawk’ – an advocate of higher rates – until it emerged she had backed a half-point cut.

New Bank staff projections saw the economy growing by just 0.75% this year and inflation rising to 3.7% from the current 2.5%.

Mann told the audience at Leeds Beckett University: “In a speech last February I said, ‘Do not be seduced by the deceleration in headline inflation’. This February, I say, ‘Do not be dismayed by the hump… yet’.”