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While seven members voted for the rates to be held at 5 per cent, David Blanchflower pushed for a 0.25 per cent reduction and Tim Besley argued for a 0.25 per cent increase.

The split decision, as well as the minutes documenting the meeting, suggested the MPC was facing an increasingly challenging decision each month.

The minutes said: "For all members of the committee, the decision was a difficult one. There was a range of views about the weights to place on different arguments."

However the majority of the MPC agreed that a rate change this month would be a surprise at a time when credit and other financial markets remained fragile.

Although there was a suggestion that August could yield a different result.

The minutes stated "any change in rates would be better communicated alongside the Bank's August inflation report."

Jock Cassidy, director of Middlesex-based IFA Ashley Law Limited, said the MPC faced a difficult task in managing inflation.

He said: "Fuel costs and petrol costs have gone up substantially above the rate of inflation.Without doubt there has been a considerable price increase over the last 12 months or so."