Bank of England rate-setter Alan Taylor ‘pretty concerned’ by economic outlook

A rate-setter at the Bank of England has said he remains “pretty concerned” about the economic outlook as he renewed calls to reduce interest rates further.

Alan Taylor, who was appointed to the Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee last year, indicated he will seek to cut interest rates again soon and dismissed recent stronger-than-expected inflation figures.

Official figures showed that Consumer Prices Index inflation jumped to 3.5% in April, up from 2.6% in March.

The rise in inflation to its highest level since January 2024 comes amid a backdrop of steady reductions in interest rates – which had been kept elevated in a bid to curb high inflation – over the past year.

Cut

Earlier this month, the Bank of England cut interest rates to 4.25%, their lowest level for around two years, from 4.5%.

Mr Taylor, who was among two dissenting rate-setters voting for a sharper cut to 4%, indicated he still hopes for further reductions in interest rates.

“I’m not going to pre-emptively announce my vote, but I think I indicated in my dissent that I thought we needed to be on a lower (monetary) policy path,” he told the Financial Times.

“I’m seeing more risk piling up on the downside scenario because of global developments,” he said, highlighting that President Trump’s tariffs were set to drag on global economic growth.

Tensions

On Wednesday, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said trade tensions linked to tariffs would reduce growth in the UK economy next year.

Mr Taylor said he believes the recent uptick in inflation is largely caused by one-off factors, adding that he remained “pretty concerned” about the growth outlook for the economy.

He added that recent developments in UK trade, such as the UK-EU deal secured earlier this month, were welcome, they would not wholly offset disruption from US tariff plans.

The rate-setter also indicated that positive growth earlier this year was likely to be linked to firms bringing forward activity ahead of the potential tariffs, with growth likely to slow in the coming months.