The Bank of England has almost doubled its economic growth forecast for 2017 and scrapped its planned interest rate cut, in a dramatic U-turn on its earlier warnings that the economy would suffer a severe post-referendum crunch.

The pound spiked against the dollar and euro on Thursday after the Bank predicted Britain's economy would grow by 1.4pc next year, almost double the 0.8pc it predicted just three months ago.

This represents the biggest upgrade the Bank has ever made to its forecasts.

As a result there is no longer any need to cut interest rates further or to increase the current programme of quantitative easing, the rate-setting Monetary Policy Committee said.