Bank of England interest rates will remain at 3.75 per cent for now, after the Monetary Policy Committee held its benchmark rate for a sixth consecutive meeting earlier this month. Deputy governor Dave Ramsden, speaking at a finance event in London on 28th September 2026, offered a defence of the bank’s steady hand, arguing that a decision not to move is a policy choice in its own right.

‘Bank Rate being the “active” tool doesn’t always mean it has to change,’ Ramsden told attendees. ‘Indeed a decision to hold can be an active response to the risks to the inflation outlook.’ His remarks give investors a clear reading of how the bank thinks about the current moment: vigilance, not drift.

Why the bank is holding

Ramsden, who leads the bank’s oversight of markets and banking, voted with the majority to keep rates unchanged while warning that inflation risks have tilted more to the upside. He told the audience that had the Middle East conflict not disrupted energy markets so severely, he would have expected Bank Rate to be at least half a point lower than its present level, with at least two cuts delivered by now.

Instead, the bank has allowed tighter financial conditions to do quiet work. Ramsden said the tightening seen since the outbreak of the conflict had helped limit the potential for direct effects from the energy shock to spread through the economy into wider price pressure. The committee judged that, despite the far-reaching effects on energy prices, there was little evidence of prices accelerating elsewhere in the economy.

A rise is not off the table

The deputy governor was careful to keep every option open. Interest rates will need to rise if upside pressures on the inflation outlook continue to build, he cautioned, absent a sudden easing of tensions. The message for markets is that the bank regards the current stance as genuinely restrictive, and that its patience is conditional rather than indefinite.

There have been lively internal debates along the way. Ramsden acknowledged candid discussions among officials over the bank’s recent overhaul of its quantitative tightening programme, the process by which it unwinds its stock of bond holdings. That transparency about the mechanics of policy has been a feature of the bank’s recent communications, and it gives asset managers a clearer view of the moving parts behind each decision.

What steadiness means for investors

For executives and investors, the hold at 3.75 per cent provides something scarce in the present environment: a fixed point. Businesses borrowing to invest, funds pricing assets and households planning mortgage refinances can all work from an unchanged benchmark while the bank watches the data.

The strategy also carries a quiet confidence. By allowing market conditions to tighten naturally, the bank has contained second-round inflation effects without adding to the shock, preserving room to act in either direction. If pressures ease, the path toward cuts remains open; if they build, Ramsden has signalled the bank will not hesitate. For now, the steady hand continues, and the bank’s willingness to explain itself makes that steadiness easier to trust.