Bank of England decides on cash plan

The Bank of England was meeting to discuss its programme of printing money against a backdrop of rising confidence among UK consumers.

The monetary policy committee will decide tomorrow at the end of its two-day meeting if it will extend quantitative easing beyond the £125 billion of extra money already printed.

Pressure is mounting on the Bank to raise at least £150 billion amid signs businesses remained starved of the money needed to stimulate a recovery in the economy.

But figures from the Nationwide Building Society today showed consumer confidence edged up last month driven in part by expectations of higher house prices and an end to the economic downturn.

Nationwide's headline consumer confidence index rose to 60 from an upwardly revised 59 in June.

The index is well above the level of 49 recorded in July last year and a series low of 44 in January, but significantly below the levels of over 90 typical before the impact of the credit crunch in late 2007.

"Consumer confidence remained broadly stable in July, with limited overall change in sentiment from the previous month," said Nationwide chief economist Martin Gahbauer. "The significance of this stability is that consumers appear to be remaining cautious, but not panicked by the economic climate.

"The most significant changes this month are that confidence in spending has fallen and that for the first time for over a year, consumers expect the value of their homes to rise over the next six months."