Pound sterling fallen against the dollar as Bank of England deputy governor Sir Jon Cunliffe hints he’ll vote against a rate hike in November

The pound continued on its downward trajectory against the dollar this morning, after comments from the Bank of England’s deputy governor put a question mark over the chances of an interest rate hike in November.

In an interview with the BBC, Sir Jon Cunliffe argued most of the inflation the economy is currently experiencing is down to the fall in the pound, and suggested without “sustained signs of domestic inflation pressure”, the case for a rate hike in November was weak.

The Bank of England’s monetary policy committee (MPC) is widely expected to raise interest rates from their historic lows in November, after Mark Carney said a rise was likely in the “coming months”.

However, Cunliffe’s comments mean at least two members of the nine-strong MPC have signalled they may vote against a hike at the next meeting.

“The balance still tilts mildly in favour of the hawks and a hike,” said Neil Wilson, senior market analyst at ETX Capital.

“But from a position a month ago when a 25 basis point increase was virtually nailed on, there are murmurings of doubt emerging that has sterling bulls nervous.”

Having fallen as low as $1.3090 immediately after Cunliffe’s comments, the pound was trading at $1.3131 at the time of writing, 0.2 per cent lower.