The Bank of England was today poised to start printing money to prevent a sustained period of deflation and depression.

Threadneedle Street revealed Governor Mervyn King will write to Chancellor Alistair Darling before next month for permission to increase the supply of money to the economy - so-called quantitative easing.

Minutes published by the Bank showed all nine members of the monetary policy committee backed the move, which would extend the existing £50 billion Asset Purchase Facility to buy corporate debt through issuing Government bonds.

The minutes said: "The committee unanimously agreed the Governor should write on its behalf to the Chancellor to seek authority to conduct purchases of government and other securities, financed by the creation of central bank money."

The MPC also voted 8-1 to cut interest rates from 1.5% to 1% this month. Arch-dove David Blanchflower voted for a bigger cut to 0.5%, arguing rates must fall "without delay" to stop inflation turning negative. He said "errors had been made by cutting too late rather than too soon". However, other members of the committee were concerned lower rates could damage banks' profits, further restrict lending and damage the economy.

The MPC said that with rates this low - down from 5% to an all-time low of 1% since October - further cuts would have a reduced impact.Economists suggested this meant the MPC may be reluctant to cut all the way to zero.

Vicky Redwood of Capital Economics said: "The committee is as yet undecided about just how low rates should go. But this concern need not stand in the way of further cuts. We still expect rates to get close to zero within the next month or two.

"And even if rates do not fall much further from here, that just means that the committee will press on with quantitative easing as soon as possible."