Bank of England holds Bank Rate at 3.75% in 8-1 vote as Pill dissents for a hike to 4%

The MPC voted 8-1 on 30 April to maintain Bank Rate at 3.75%, with Huw Pill the lone dissenter calling for a 25bps rise to 4%. The Committee cited Middle East energy-price pressure pushing CPI to 3.3% in March, with inflation projected to dip to 3.1% in Q2 before rising back to 3.3% in Q3. The market-implied path now slopes upward, suggesting some increase in Bank Rate this year. For buyers, that pushes the cheap-money window further out; for sellers, expect lender repricing to firm up rather than fall.