Bank of England unanimous over extra £75bn

The Bank of England voted unanimously in favour of pumping an extra £75bn into the British economy amid fears that growth in the UK will grind to a halt by the end of the year, documents revealed today.

Available indicators suggested that the rate of growth had slowed down and would be “close to zero” in the fourth quarter, minutes from the October meeting of the Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) said.

MPC members considered injecting a further £100bn into the economy but all nine members settled on increasing the quantitative easing (QE) programme from £200bn to £275bn. The committee voted unanimously in favour of holding interest rates at historic lows of 0.5%.

Bank governor Sir Mervyn King last night defended the Bank’s decision to boost QE despite inflation hitting a three-year high in September, reassuring that the cost of living would fall back sharply next year.