Although this shift in language was quite gradual, the problem we can sometimes have in such periods is that people may react by thinking that, if the Bank is not thinking about easing, then it must be thinking about tightening. But we were not contemplating tightening.
In fact, the conclusion we had reached was that we might be on the brink of sitting still for some time. That is why we adopted language about “stability” in interest rates, the intended effect of which was to be clear to people that we did not think that higher interest rates were imminent.