No one in the Government would be “comfortable” with triggering a recession to tame inflation, James Cleverly said this morning. 

Some economists have argued that the Bank of England has to “create a recession” in order to finally bring soaring prices back under control. 

But Mr Cleverly, the Foreign Secretary, rejected the suggestion that the nation should “consciously” shrink the economy. 

Asked if a recession was the answer to busting inflation, Mr Cleverly told Sky News: “No. What we need to do is we need to grow the economy. High interest rates don’t help with that. 

“This idea that we should consciously be going into a recession I don’t think is one that anyone in government would be comfortable subscribing to at all.”

His comments came as the Bank of England is poised to raise interest rates at lunchtime for what would be the 13th time in a row after inflation figures published yesterday showed prices rises have not eased.

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