Will this be the last Inflation Report that references CPI rather than CPIH? The last remit letter to Carney came from George Osborne last March, and said, in part: “I hereby re-confirm the inflation target as 2 per cent as measured by the 12-month increase in the Consumer Prices Index (CPI).” Next month, all Phillip Hammond would have to do would be amend this to: “I hereby affirm the inflation target as 2 per cent as measured by the 12-month increase in the CPIH”. The CPIH would replace the CPI as the Bank of England’s target inflation indicator. The CPIH is a unique composite of the UK Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) and an owned accommodation index based on imputed rents. The Inflation Report makes no mention of the CPIH at all, but after all in May the RPIJ will be discontinued, and the CPIH may become the headline inflation measure of the Office of National Statistics (ONS). There is a certain logic in making all of these linked, dysfunctional decisions at once.