BoE voted 7-2 to freeze interest rates

Bank of England policymakers voted 7-2 in July to keep the key interest rate at a record low level of 0.50 percent, minutes of the latest meeting showed on Wednesday. The result at the end of the BoE's monetary policy meeting on July 6-7 was unchanged from the central bank's vote in June, as members weighed up Britain's weak economic growth against the country's high inflation. "Most members judged that it was appropriate to maintain the current stance of monetary policy at this meeting," the minutes said. "It was likely that the current weakness in activity would persist for longer than previously thought." However for two members, "the argument for removing some of the monetary stimulus at this meeting had remained strong," the minutes said. "For them, the upside risks to inflation in the medium term from global pricing pressures and the possibility that inflation expectations could increase continued to outweigh the downside risk that the strength of the recovery would be insufficient to eat into the economy's persistent margin of spare capacity." Policymakers Martin Weale and Spencer Dale voted for a quarter-point rise in the benchmark rate.