The Bank of England's failure to hit inflation targets could put its independence at risk, a member of its rate-setting committee has warned.

Sushil Wadhwani, whose three-year term on the monetary policy committee ends today, said he feared the bank may come under attack for undershooting the Government's inflation target of 2.5 per cent.

He believes the nine-strong committee over-estimated the threat of inflation when setting interest rates during its monthly meetings.

During the three years Mr Wadhwani has served on the committee, inflation has consistently undershot and only twice risen above the target figure.

Mr Wadhwani, who repeatedly argued the case for lower interest rates, said the economy could have grown faster and unemployment fallen further if the underlying rate of inflation had been higher.

He said: "It seems if you indefinitely undershoot, it makes the situation more risky from the political perspective.

"I don't think it's particularly risky if unemployment continues falling or remains low but I think the debate could be quite different if an undershoot is going on when unemployment is rising and rising significantly."

It is five years since the Bank of England was given responsibility by the Chancellor, Gordon Brown, for the setting of interest rates.

Mr Wadhwani said the performance so far had been encouraging, with unemployment at about its lowest level for 26 years.

He said: "Even though the system has had a very good start, it's very important to safeguard the independence of the Bank of England.

"The best way of safeguarding it is to forestall future political criticism."