Business and homeowners' hopes for lower interest rates were given a boost in Britain yesterday when the minutes of the Bank of England's monetary policy committee (MPC) showed that four of the nine members voted for an immediate cut in July.

The vote was the tightest for nearly two years and came amid growing calls from business groups for lower rates.

The British economy has slowed since the autumn. Consensus forecasts predict growth of 2.2 per cent this year after 3.2 per cent in 2004, largely because of sluggish consumer spending.

Four members of the committee, compared with just two a month earlier, thought the slowdown warranted lower rates.

The other five members wanted to keep the repo rate at 4.75 per cent. Mervyn King, the bank's governor, cast his vote last and ensured that rates remained unchanged. Economists took the vote as a sign that the MPC was "edging towards a rate cut". They expect a reduction in August.

The minutes show the policy debate centred on revisions to national accounts at the end of June, which showed stronger growth in 2003 and early 2004 but a sharper slowdown since.