"Given where the labour market is, given that real incomes are beginning to see some pick-up, growth might be weak in the middle of this year and then start to pick up," Ramsden told Scotland's Press and Journal newspaper during a trip to Inverness.

In a speech to local businesses on Thursday, Ramsden said he expected growth to be a bit weaker than the BoE had forecast at the start of May due to slower investment and subdued economic productivity.

"Businesses might be more cautious to start investing again at the kind of pace that we are forecasting, because we see investment picking up to 5pc or so next year.

It's currently falling on a year earlier," he told the newspaper.

The BoE forecast in early May that the economy would grow by 1.5pc this year and 1.6pc in 2020, if Brexit goes smoothly.

Quarterly growth was a robust 0.5pc in the first three months of 2019, but the BoE predicts this will drop to 0.2pc during the current quarter as the temporary boost from pre-Brexit stockpiling fades.