Brexit is being blamed for dismal manufacturing numbers. Is a rhetoric recession on the way?

Inside Business: The latest PMI figures show the sector is enduring its fastest slowdown in six years. Worse could be coming as fear of a no-deal cliff mounts

Manufacturing is especially hard hit by the threat of crashing out of Europe (PA)

It has been clear for a while that the latest manufacturing data was going to be bad. But there’s Star Wars: The Phantom Menace bad, and there’s multiple Razzie award-winning worst film of all time nominee Kirk Cameron’s Saving Christmas bad. (Unfortunately I’ve seen it. It’s mostly two blokes in a car talking about God and Father Christmas and managing to make Jar Jar Binks look entertaining in the process).

The data (courtesy of the regular IHS Markit/CIPS Purchasing Managers Index) shows the PMIs were squarely in the Saving Christmas category. Anything above 50 represents growth. They limped in at 48, which is the worst performance the sector has put in for more than six years and well below the City’s already gloomy forecasts. Both factory output and new orders slumped.

This may just be the start of it. Chris Williamson, chief business economist at IHS Markit, pointed out that the ratio of forward-looking orders to existing inventory fell last month to its lowest level in seven years and the second lowest in a decade. At this rate, Britain’s manufacturers may not need to start stockpiling ahead of the next cliff edge at the end of October because they’re not getting enough orders to get rid of what they built up ahead.