The minutes of the MPC meeting from 5-6 November reiterated the 7-2 divide of the committee members in favour of keeping ultra-low interest rates on hold, with two members continuing to back an early rate hike.
Ian McCafferty and Martin Weale are the two MPC members that have been voting for an early 0.25% rate hike since August.
The report caused sterling to rise from the one-year low it briefly touched this morning against the US dollar to trade at $1.5674 by mid-afternoon.
One of the key worries for policymakers, which was emphasised at the latest meeting, was inflation, following the downbeat Inflation Report published by the central bank last week.
The quarterly report predicted inflation will fall below 1% in the next six months, with GDP growth predicted to fall from 3.5% this year to 2.9% in 2015 and 2.6% in each of the following years.
Despite the Bank’s more muted forecasts, the MPC minutes showed there was a “material spread of views on the balance of risks to the outlook” for the UK economy.
While some members argued the economy is facing deflationary pressures, others said inflation could overshoot the 2% target if spare capacity was eliminated too quickly. In October inflation rose from 1.2% to 1.3%, but remains on a broader downward trend.
