The UK could experience its most “significant and sustained” slowdown in a decade as the economy adjusts from consumer-led growth to a greater reliance on investment and exports, a Bank of England policymaker said on Thursday.

In a speech that gave few hints of his voting intentions on interest rates, Andrew Sentance said an outright recession of the kind Britain experienced in the mid-70s, early 80s and early 90s – with output falling year on year – was a “remote risk”.