"The majority had voted against further measures and had had good news since they last voted, and so it was a difficult ask to tell them to vote for expansion"
- John Gieve, Former Deputy Governor of the Bank of England
Three of Britain's major economists, who took an optimistic view of the U.K. economic data, now believe the country has turned the corner and the pace of economic growth should pick up quickly from here. During the quarterly Fathom Consulting's Monetary Policy Forum economists DeAnne Julius, John Gieve and Charles Goodhart pointed out there is a possibility that the U.K. is currently on the path of recovery. However, they stressed out the Bank of England Governor Mark Carney did not want to declare the job was done already and announced the forward guidance. During his first MPC meeting Carney managed to secure a 9-0 univocal vote in favour of staying pat on the monetary policy, leaving interest rates and the pace of asset purchase on hold. The next meeting is scheduled on August 1, but Carney is expected to wait until the inflation report before any announcement is made about the form of his forward guidance. After conducting a survey among almost 4,000 businesses across the U.K., the BBC said that the majority of companies are expressing support for the renegotiation of the nation's membership in the European Union. The figures showed that 77% of respondents would back a referendum on EU membership, compared with 14% against and with only 9% undecided. At the same time a slight majority (53.6%) of companies feel that a full withdrawal from the EU would have a negative effect on the domestic economy.
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