Bank of England's monetary policy committee unanimous extended its decision to not pump more money into the economy this month, meeting notes have shown. The committee members agreed to keep interest rates at a record low of 0.5%.

The decision resulted in an end, for now at least, the Bank's £200bn quantitative easing (QE) programme developed to stimulate the economy.

However, the more hawkish members on the committee are jittery that the recent rise in inflation to 3.5% might not be as temporary as the Bank's Governor Mervyn King speculates.

Under QE, the bank pumped new money into the economy by buying assets, such as Government bonds, in an attempt to boost lending by commercial banks.

Figures published on Tuesday showed UK CPI inflation soared to an annual rate of 3.5% in January, up from 2.9% the month before.

As the figure was more than one percentage point above the 2% target, this triggered a letter of explanation from Bank of England governor Mervyn King to the chancellor.