LONDON - The pound held steady on Tuesday just shy of a one year high on the dollar hit the previous day, as traders caught their breath ahead of a raft of major political and economic data due later in the week.

British inflation data for June is due Wednesday, and will guide expectations of whether the Bank of England will cut rates at its August meeting, or hold off until later in the year.

Also on Wednesday King Charles will announce the full legislative agenda of the new government of British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

Then jobs data, also important for the BoE, is due on Thursday.

"The UK is the market that is the most interesting this week, by some margin. You’ve got all the data, you’ve got the King's Speech and the thing that makes it interesting is that (BoE expectations are) priced more or less 50/50, so the data could certainly have an impact one way or the other," said Colin Asher senior economist at Mizuho.

Investors were nervous about placing overly large bets ahead of that data and sterling was last sitting steady against the dollar at $1.2969, just off the previous day's one-year top of $1.2995.

It was also steady on the euro, with one euro at 84.04 pence, having dropped to a near two year low of 83.91 pence on Monday.

Reasonably upbeat economic British data and relatively hawkish policy makers have been supporting the pound, while signs of slowing inflation in the U.S. brings down the dollar, and political uncertainty in France has weighed on the euro.

The BoE in June voted 7-2 to keep rates on hold but policy minutes said the decision had been "finely balanced" for some rate setters.

(Reporting by Alun John and Amanda Cooper, Editing by Louise Heavens)