http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/4...y-scarred.html
The recession is now of a scale that dwarfs the early 1990s and could leave Britain's economy permanently scarred as dynamic private companies abandon the UK, a leading business lobby has warned.
It is fast emerging that December was one of the worst months ever recorded for the British economy, with the British Retail Consortium reporting an unprecedented fall in retail sales, while business output and housing market activity dipped to new troughs.
The British Chambers of Commerce reports a "frightening deterioration" towards the end of the year, in its quarterly economic survey, published today. It said that the manufacturing and service sectors recorded their worst output since comparable records began two decades ago.
"The sheer scale of this comes as a surprise to many of us," said BCC director general David Frost. Urging the Government to implement "more imaginative" measures to end the crisis, including further fiscal stimulus and quantitative easing, he added: "The concern must be about what we are going to have at the end of this. If we are to climb out of this morass we will need a strong business base."
As part of its scheme to mitigate the recession, the Government is planning to generate budget deficits which exceed those incurred by Denis Healey in the 1970s ahead of Britain's International Monetary Fund bail-out, with the national debt rising from around 40pc of gross domestic product to 57pc.
The BCC warning came as retailers reported their worst December's performance on record. The BRC/KPMG sales monitor showed that like-for-like sales dropped by 3.7pc in comparison with the previous December. When distortions caused by changes in the Easter Sunday date were removed it made December the worst single month in the survey's 14-year history.
BRC director general Stephen Robertson said: "These are truly dreadful numbers. Many hard-pressed customers couldn't be seduced into spending."
The detailed figures underlined how consumers are cutting back in the face of the slump, with food shoppers drawn to winter staples of meat and vegetables, soups and puddings. With buyers searching out bargains, online sales rose by 30pc.
The housing market outlook is similarly gloomy as prices continue to slide, despite the return of new buyers to the marketplace. The number of homes changing hands plunged in December, according to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. The average surveyor or estate agent sold only 10.1 homes in the three months to December - the lowest rate since records began in 1978.
The pound fell amost four cents against the dollar to $1.4841, while the euro edged up over a penny to 89.98p.
The recession is now of a scale that dwarfs the early 1990s and could leave Britain's economy permanently scarred as dynamic private companies abandon the UK, a leading business lobby has warned.
It is fast emerging that December was one of the worst months ever recorded for the British economy, with the British Retail Consortium reporting an unprecedented fall in retail sales, while business output and housing market activity dipped to new troughs.
The British Chambers of Commerce reports a "frightening deterioration" towards the end of the year, in its quarterly economic survey, published today. It said that the manufacturing and service sectors recorded their worst output since comparable records began two decades ago.
"The sheer scale of this comes as a surprise to many of us," said BCC director general David Frost. Urging the Government to implement "more imaginative" measures to end the crisis, including further fiscal stimulus and quantitative easing, he added: "The concern must be about what we are going to have at the end of this. If we are to climb out of this morass we will need a strong business base."
As part of its scheme to mitigate the recession, the Government is planning to generate budget deficits which exceed those incurred by Denis Healey in the 1970s ahead of Britain's International Monetary Fund bail-out, with the national debt rising from around 40pc of gross domestic product to 57pc.
The BCC warning came as retailers reported their worst December's performance on record. The BRC/KPMG sales monitor showed that like-for-like sales dropped by 3.7pc in comparison with the previous December. When distortions caused by changes in the Easter Sunday date were removed it made December the worst single month in the survey's 14-year history.
BRC director general Stephen Robertson said: "These are truly dreadful numbers. Many hard-pressed customers couldn't be seduced into spending."
The detailed figures underlined how consumers are cutting back in the face of the slump, with food shoppers drawn to winter staples of meat and vegetables, soups and puddings. With buyers searching out bargains, online sales rose by 30pc.
The housing market outlook is similarly gloomy as prices continue to slide, despite the return of new buyers to the marketplace. The number of homes changing hands plunged in December, according to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. The average surveyor or estate agent sold only 10.1 homes in the three months to December - the lowest rate since records began in 1978.
The pound fell amost four cents against the dollar to $1.4841, while the euro edged up over a penny to 89.98p.
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