Inflation will quadruple to about 4% in the second half of 2017, an influential think tank has warned.

The National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) said the move to trigger Article 50 could hit growth further in 2017.

It predicted the plunging pound would send inflation shooting up to about 4% in late 2017.

Inflation is the rate of increase in prices for goods and services - so higher inflation would affect consumer spending power.

However, it said this was likely to be "only a temporary phenomenon", with inflation set to return to the Bank's 2% target in 2020.

NIESR also upgraded its forecasts for growth this year and next - to 2% in 2016, slowing to 1.4% in 2017.

NIESR said it believes the Bank of England would now hold interest rates at 0.25% until the second half of 2019.

Its gross domestic product (GDP) forecasts compare with a far more gloomy report in August, when it warned the UK faced a 50/50 chance of a technical recession as it pencilled in growth of just 1.7% this year and 1% in 2017.

They also follow last week's official figures showing resilient growth of 0.5% in the third quarter.

But NIESR said the UK was not out of the woods yet, cautioning the outlook "remains one of a slowing economy, confronted with significant risks".