As has been widely predicted, the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has elected to keep interest rates on hold at 0.5%.

It has also decided to make no changes to the asset purchase facility, commonly known as quantitative easing (QE). It currently stands at £375 billion.

The bank rate has now been at the same level for 47 consecutive months.

Last month, David Miles, one of the nine MPC members voted against keeping quantitative easing (QE) at £375 billion. He wanted to increase the size of the asset purchase programme by a further £25 billion to a total of £400 billion.

Sean Oldfield, CEO of Castle Trust, said: “Lenders who want to remain competitive are having to tweak rates as Funding for Lending continues to push rates for both savers and borrowers lower. It is not just borrowers with large deposits who are benefiting either, although first-time buyers are not seeing the same level of cuts.

“What is particularly striking is that building societies and smaller lenders in particular are responding with a range of innovative and competitive mortgage deals underlining their key role in improving lending conditions. A more competitive mortgage market is emerging allowing customers to have more choice.”