Sterling slipped back below $1.70 this morning after the Treasury Select Committee of MPs accused Bank of England governor Mark Carney of acting like an ‘unreliable boyfriend’.

Labour MP Pat McFadden made the claim over what TSC members said were a series of mixed messages issued by Carney and other Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) members on interest rates.

While recent editions of the MPC’s minutes have shown unanimous support for maintaining rates at current lows, individual members, including Carney, appear to have concerns about complacency on public expectations on the timetable for a possible increase.

TSC chair Andrew Tyrie said Carney ‘was giving a lot of guidance’ but ‘not all of it pointing in the same direction’.