UK recession to deepen significantly

Bank of England policy maker David Blanchflower said the UK's recession will probably deepen "significantly," underscoring the need for the government and the central bank to step up aid to the economy.

"I expect the first quarter to be worse than the fourth, probably significantly worse," he said in an interview at Stirling University in Scotland late yesterday. "I don't see any signs of green shoots at the moment."

The British economy shrank the most since 1980 in the final three months of last year as spending by consumers and companies shriveled. With the Bank of England's main rate already at a record low of 1 percent, the central bank is waiting for Prime Minister Gordon Brown's government to give it authority to create money and pump it into the economy.