Bank of England policymakers judged Britain’s short-run inflation outlook had darkened earlier this month, but some still thought they would probably need to inject more stimulus, minutes of their September meeting showed yesterday.

The Bank said higher oil prices and the threat of increased food and utility bills to come meant that inflation was unlikely to slow as rapidly as they had forecast one month earlier, squeezing consumers’ disposable income.

In the medium term, a recent rise in employment twinned with weak output growth also posed a risk of labour market price pressures that could push up the cost of goods and services, the Bank added.

But the overall outlook for growth remained subdued – sufficiently so that one of the nine-member committee said there was a “good case” to step up the BoE’s programme of asset purchases now.

For the rest of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) it was a “relatively straightforward” decision to stick with the four-month programme of £50 billion (€62.31 billion) of asset purchases agreed in July, which will run through until November.

The BoE’s current programme of government bond purchases with newly created money – which is designed to help an economy that has been in recession since late last year – will reach £375 billion by November, and most economists expect the Bank to then raise the target to £425 billion.