The gloomier tone to the quarterly industrial trends survey followed a period when manufacturing appeared to be doing better after a difficult start to 2016. Rain Newton-Smith, the CBI’s chief economist, said: “Manufacturers picked up the pace over the second quarter, with output growing solidly. Optimism among Britain’s manufacturers has slumped since the Brexit vote to its lowest level since the depths of the global recession more than seven years ago, the CBI has reported. He said: “Taken together with last week’s flash manufacturing PMI, the evidence is mounting that the economy has taken a hit from Brexit. In the previous industrial trends survey a balance of 6% of firms said they intended to invest more in buildings and a balance of 17% had plans for new plant and machinery.

Source: The Guardian July 25, 2016 11:03 UTC