The Bank of England’s monetary policy committee was split three ways in its vote to leave interest rates on hold this month. However, most members felt that raising rates to fight inflation was not yet necessary, given the weaker outlook for economic growth.

Minutes of the meeting, published on Wednesday, show that seven of the MPC’s nine members voted to hold rates at 5 per cent. This was in spite of expecting inflation to rise higher in the short term than the 4 cent they had expected in June