Bank of England holds interest rate at 0.50%

But if there is a larger-than-expected split, it could complicate the message from the Bank’s governor, Mark Carney, who has sounded less urgent about the timing of a rate increase. However, he also emphasised that future rises will be slow, towards half the historical averages, meaning around 2%.

Ian McCafferty voted to increase Bank Rate by 25 basis points, given his view that demand growth and wage pressures were likely to be greater, and the margin of spare capacity smaller, than embodied in the Committee’s collective August projections. The strong pound and low fuel costs would continue to push down inflation until at least the middle of next year, the bank said.

Interest rates are the rates paid by borrowers for the use of money they borrow from lenders. “Until that moment, the Bank of England is right to keep interest rates at current levels”.

However, it still believes CPI will begin to rise next year and hit its target of 2% within two years.

The bank slashed interest rates to 0.5% in the depths of the financial crisis in 2009 and has kept them there ever since.

8 members of the MPC voted to hold the BoE’s benchmark interest rate at 0.5%, 1 voted to raise it to 0.75%.

Early signs of an economic slowdown have emerged, with figures showing that activity in the UK’s powerhouse services sector eased last month.

In the Inflation Report, the Bank suggested that the rapid growth in jobs – which was one of the proudest boasts of Chancellor George Osborne during the recent general election campaign – appears to be petering out.

Economists had predicted that McCafferty would be joined by another of the bank’s well-known hawks Martin Weale in voting for a rate rise.

But the bank said a collapsing stock market in China and continuing talks over Greece’s debts meant the outlook for global growth was muted. The bank pointed to a possible increase in interest rates early next year, after only one of its top policymakers backed an immediate move. Traditionally the first Thursday of the month would have just seen the interest rate decision, with the Inflation Report the following Wednesday and the meeting minutes the Wednesday after that.