Neil Birrell: Negative interest rates have arrived in the UK

I am writing this a few days after the governor of the Bank England, Andrew Bailey, addressed the Treasury Select Committee on 19 May and said that the Bank of England would consider negative interest rates. After seeing very short dated gilt yields go negative, the yield on the 5 year gilt fell below zero as well, meaning, in effect, that negative rates are already here. If bond markets have got there, will the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) follow? The base rate is at 0.1% already following two cuts during the Covid-19 crisis, bringing it down from 0.75%. The governor said the MPC is ...