How bleak is the future for the UK?

Many people were horrified to learn recently that whilst many major economies are going through a severe downturn and recession, the UK is expected to be the hardest hit of the major economies, which is of course bad news for UK consumers and businesses.

Whilst the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling, said recently that he thought the recession may only last until around the middle of this year, he has now stated that it could be two years or more, and could be a long and painful recession, which is an opinion that has been mirrored by a number of other officials.

Business leaders have now said that the end of last year saw significant deterioration in the UK economy, and things are looking very bleak for the coming year and possibly beyond. The data came from the British Chambers of Commerce, which said that results from its survey were amongst the worse seen since it began keeping records around twenty years ago. The British Retail Consortium also reported a fall in retail and online sales last December compared to the year before. Earlier this year it was confirmed that after two consecutive quarters of negative growth the UK was officially in recession.

The report from the British Chambers of Commerce was based on the survey of around six thousand companies, which collectively employ nearly seven hundred thousand people. The data showed that in the latter part of last year confidence levels plunged in the UK, exports fell, and domestic demand plummeted.

The report from the British Chambers of Commerce stated: “It is clear that the UK economy is facing a very serious recession, and the downturn is deepening at an alarming pace. The results highlight a frightening deterioration in the UK economic situation.”

The director of the British Chambers of Commerce said that the results of the survey were truly awful and painted a pretty bleak picture with regards to the year to come.

He said: “These are truly awful results with the scale and speed of the economic decline happening at an unprecedented rate. Quite frankly the last time I saw anything of this magnitude of decline was when I worked in the West Midlands in the early 1980s. The sheer scale of this comes as a surprise to many of us.”

David Kern, an economist from the BCC, said that the government was cutting the base rate in order to try and deal the economic situation, but said that further action needed to be taken, including the prospect of printing more money, which is something that the government has been considering and has given the Monetary Policy Committee permission to do. The recession that has gripped the nation has already resulted in many small business closures and many job losses, with small companies going bust and many well known retailers going into administration.

Tags: number, confidence levels, uk consumers, economic future, Late 2000s recession in Europe, uk jobs