Britain’s launch of a new 50-year government bond drew record demand, its debt agency said yesterday, prompting it to slightly increase its syndication programme for long-dated debt.

The sale of one of Britain’s longest dated inflation-linked government bonds yesterday drew strong demand — producing the lowest negative real yield on record for a syndicated offering of gilt linkers.

IRELAND could face a further downgrade from Standard & Poor’s (S&P) as the ratings agency expects the country to inject as much as €35 billion into Anglo Irish Bank “over time”.