Stop raising interest rates, Jeremy Hunt’s adviser tells Bank of England

‘We can afford to take more time to get inflation back down,’ says Andy Haldane

Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey has defended rate rises (AFP via Getty)

The Bank of England should stop raising interest rates because it risks choking Britain’s economic recovery, a top adviser to chancellor Jeremy Hunt has said.

Andy Haldane – a former chief economist at the central bank, who is now a member of Mr Hunt’s Economic Advisory Council – said it was time to “press pause” after 12 consecutive interest-rate rises.

Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey has warned that the Bank will keep on hiking the base rate if inflation proves stubbornly persistent, after raising it to 4.25 per cent last week.