James Ashton: Interest rates - it's a surprisingly one-sided game

A 9-0 scoreline is the sort of dream World Cup result never likely to occur if the tournament in Brazil really has assembled the 32 best footballing nations.

By now, there were many who thought the Monetary Policy Committee’s scoreline would be more evenly balanced as well.

Given Mark Carney’s hawkish comments at Mansion House last week, it is surprising that none of the members have seen fit to break ranks.

There are good reasons, stemming from the labour market where the Governor is watching for a take-up of slack. The MPC points out that job moves are on the rise, which might suggest increased bargaining power. However, wage growth has been weak.

These minutes still harden expectations of a first rise before Christmas. It is something that Carney was guiding away from as recently as last month, so there should be no surprise that financial markets had, until last week, discounted the chance of an earlier move.

Sluggish inflation still gives the Bank some wiggle room, but really the only decision that needs to be taken is when this year, not if.