Consumer confidence fell 11 points to minus 24 in October, GfK’s closely-watched tracker shows. The biggest monthly drop outside the pandemic since the 2016 Brexit referendum…
Every measure GfK tracks fell. That wipes out the whole summer bounce after Burnham moved into No 10…
Official figures out this morning show retail sales fell 0.4% in September, worse than forecast, with shoppers cutting back on clothes and food. That was before diesel passed £2 a litre for the first time and mortgage rates crept towards 6%. Inbound: a 25% jump in energy bills in January…
Higher earners – the only group still spending meaningfully – took the biggest hit with confidence down 20 points to minus seven. Plans for big purchases fell sharply just before Christmas, while saving intentions rose. GfK’s Neil Bellamy said:
“The speed of this deterioration is alarming… With no single major economic event driving the decline, and with weakness seen across the full spectrum of income, age and gender demographic groups, these are damaging findings given the UK government’s priority of economic growth.”
John Healey has tried to keep tax rise talk quiet before his budget on 28 October, telling Bloomberg TV that “speculation in the past has done real damage.” The quickest way to end the speculation is to rule the rises out…
