Date posted: 17th Jun 2026
Members of the Yorkshire Shadow MPC almost unanimously voted to hold interest rates, with two dissenters – one voting to raise by .25% and one for a .25% cut.
The Yorkshire Shadow MPC is a partnership between Recognition PR, Clive Owen LLP and The York Press.
Ian Jarvis, outsourcing partner at Clive Owen LLP, who mentioned AI for the first time on a Shadow MPC, said: “I think a hold is the right thing to do. The other thing we haven’t really touched on is, of course, AI and its impact of productivity. And that’s a great unknown. It’s another thing that I’m being asked about more and more regularly, do I hire someone or do I get a bit of tech in place? And that will have an effect, but I don’t think anyone truly knows what that effect’s going to be yet.”
Kerry Hope, director at Castle Employment, voted for a cut, she said: “I just think it should be minute, like a 0.25%, because I just think that businesses just need confidence. So that’s why I opted to pull it down just a small amount.”
Graham Robb, senior partner at Recognition PR, voted for a small rise: “Inflation is more than 50% over the Bank of England’s target and all predictions say it will be even more than that later in the year. Therefore, I think we should have a small increase now to head it off and make it easier to pull back maybe when we need it as things get tougher later.”
Steve Lowe, Sales Director at Newsquest, the parent company of The York Press, said: “I think people have enough to worry about and we just need to stay where we are so confidence doesn’t drain away.”
Beckie Hart, Regional Director Yorkshire & the Humber for the CBI, said: “I think we’ve got really quite a weak economic backdrop at the moment. We’ve got a much, much looser labour market. So even though there are inflationary effects from war in Iran, and obviously we’ve got the domestic price cap which is going to be coming through, I just think hold is the right thing to do.”
Luke Lodge, partner at Evelyn Partners a leading wealth management firm, said: “On the backdrop of some globally quite positive news, locally it seems very different. Growth is weak and very sensitive to borrowing costs and we’re going to get a lag of the effects of the Middle East on inflation and that inflation comes further down the line.”
Dave Broadbent, from insolvency practitioners Begbies Traynor, said: “Debtors are the big thing at the moment. Cash is king. So that does man a lot of smaller guys are getting dragged down by the bigger guys.”
Richard Peak, managing director of Helmsley Group, said: “I voted to hold because I think that’s probably what should happen in the market. What I would like to have happened is to vote for a cut, but I just don’t think it’s quite right at the moment. I think there’s enough going on that we just have a little bit more stability and keep the rates where they are.”
Fiona Conor, managing director at Trust Electric Heating said: “I think inflation must be controlled, but I think businesses need a stable path forward at the moment, followed by maybe a sensible approach moving forward with gradual rate reductions. But I think if we put the rates up, British businesses will hold again on investment, innovation and creation and then look at more job losses, which would be bad for the economy.”
You can watch the Yorkshire Shadow MPC meeting for June 2026 via the video link below:
