Analysts have said that it is becoming increasingly apparently that interest rates will fall several times next year, with even the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) now seemingly firmly behind such action.

Minutes from this month's MPC meeting have shown that the committee voted by 9-0 in favour of cutting rates.

Add this to yesterday's inflation data, which came in at 2.1 per cent - 0.1 percentage points lower than had been expected - and the case for further cuts appears to be growing.

"It had been expected that the decision was much closer, with three or four members voting against the cut," said Richard Snook from the Centre for Economics and Business Research.

"This provides a strong signal that the Bank is now willing to take much stronger action to counteract the credit crunch and paves the way for further interest rate cuts in the New Year," Mr Snook added.

"The 9-0 vote in favour of December's interest rate cut and the general tone of the minutes indicate that another interest rate cut early in 2008 is very much on the cards," confirmed Howard Archer, chief UK and European economist at Global Insight.

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