Sunak faces a $ 13 billion debt shock

Manufacturers, meanwhile, stressed the risk of stagflation as shortages of personnel and materials slowed growth even though prices soared.

The IHS Markit / CIPS purchasing managers’ index was 57.1 in September after 60.3 in August and its weakest performance since February.

Rob Dobson, director of IHS Markit, said the numbers underscore the “risk of the UK falling towards stagflation” as production and orders growth slows sharply while costs and sales prices rise.

“Companies are facing a growing list of headwinds, including declining new export orders, component shortages, delays in air, land and sea freight, staff shortages exacerbated by Covid-19 diseases, Brexit disruptions, soaring costs and now fuel shortage. ”he said.

James Brougham, chief economist at the Make UK production group, said: “The combined factors of staff shortages, logistics disruptions and raw material shortages have been significant in manufacturing over the past few months.

“This is now holding back UK manufacturers’ post-Covid-19 recovery as both domestic and export order growth suffers as companies begin to look elsewhere as confidence in the industry’s ability to deliver on time , is being undermined. “