MEMBERS of the Monetary Policy Committee now appear to be more firmly of the opinion that the next move in UK base rates will be up, rather than down, minutes of its latest meeting signal.

However, economists continue to predict that it is likely the first rise base rates from their record low of 0.5 per cent will be in 2016, rather than this year.

Howard Archer, chief UK economist at consultancy IHS Global Insight, highlighted the fact that the observation in minutes of recent MPC meetings that "there was a range of views over the most likely future path" of base rates did not feature in the account of the June 3 and 4 meeting.

Minutes of the Bank of England committee's June meeting, published yesterday, show that all nine members voted again for base rates to be held at 0.5 per cent.

Mr Archer said: "Interestingly, the minutes dropped the observation that there 'was a range of views over the most likely future path for Bank Rate', which suggests that [Bank of England chief economist] Andy Haldane may have stepped back from his view that the next move in interest rates was as likely to be down as up."

The latest minutes highlight a view among the MPC that the headwinds to economic growth had "begun to ease" but also cite members' awareness that "a disorderly outcome to the Greek debt negotiations remained a significant risk".