Bank of England holds rates and QE The Bank of England has kept monetary policy on hold for the 15th month in a row. The Monetary Policy Committee, which voted on Wednesday, a day early, because of governor Mark Carney's trip to Washington for the International Monetary Fund's annual meetings, held the bank rate at 0.5 per cent and its bond-buying programme at £375bn, as expected. The decision follows the release of unexpectedly weak manufacturing industry data on Wednesday. The Office for National Statistics reported that factory output fell by 1.2 per cent in August - the sharpest drop since the turn of the year. The official figures conflicted with surveys of purchasing managers, which suggested activity expanded at its fastest pace for two and a half years, and bucked the trend of two months of growth. The nine-member MPC has pledged to keep the bank rate at its current record low at least until unemployment falls from 7.7 per cent to 7 per cent, as long as prices are stable and the health of the financial system remains sound. Since the MPC unveiled its forward guidance on interest rates in August, better-than-expected data have undermined markets" faith in the new policy. The BoE thinks unemployment will not fall to 7 per cent until the middle of 2016, but markets expect the first interest rate rise a year earlier. Members of the MPC have hit back against the framework's critics in recent weeks, suggesting that doubters had misconstrued guidance as a commitment to hold rates for the next three years.