Around 80pc of British businesses believe they are ready for a no deal Brexit as the Bank of England revealed that the economy is accelerating ahead of the UK's scheduled departure from the EU.

The Bank's survey of businesses found that around two thirds were now implementing contingency plans for a disorderly departure and 40pc have started to stockpile.

Its policymakers voted unanimously to leave interest rates unchanged at 0.75pc in their final meeting before March 29. The Monetary Policy Committee now expects growth to pick-up to 0.3pc in the first quarter of the year, compared to its February forecast of 0.2pc.

Although business investment is being hampered by the mounting uncertainty, consumer spending is recovering as real wages climb, its rate-setters revealed.

The Bank said that many companies also reported that there were "limits to the degree of readiness that was feasible in the face of the range of possible outcomes in that scenario". Possible issues cited by businesses included tariffs, currency movements and border frictions.