Businesses react
The UK’s Gross domestic product (GDP) is estimated to have fallen by 0.3% in August 2022, after revised growth of 0.1% in July, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
The latest government data showed that there has been a continued slowing in underlying three-month on three-month growth, where GDP also fell by 0.3% in the three months to August compared with the three months to May 2022.
ONS reported that production fell by 1.8% – mainly because of a decrease of 1.6% in manufacturing – and was the main contributor to the fall in GDP. Services also fell by 0.1%, while construction grew by 0.4% in August 2022 as new work increased by 1.9%. Output in consumer-facing services fell by 1.8%.
The decrease in the nation’s Gross Domestic Product has impacted confidence in the various business sectors, particularly smaller businesses.
Commenting on the GDP report, Ollie Hayes, personal trainer and founder of SOFIT Bath, remarked that small businesses in all sectors are being pummelled and “yet the clowns in Westminster seem oblivious to the chaos that’s unfolding.”
“For millions of small firms, things are looking far bleaker now than during the dark days of the pandemic, but the people running this country are totally out of touch,” he said. “Based on the verdict of the markets alone, the whole lot of them should be red-carded for the economic equivalent of a high tackle.”
Lucy Scott, director at Birmingham-based bakery Lil’s Parlour, shared that never in her eight years of managing the business have things “seemed as frightening as they do now.”
“I have never felt less confident that in 12 months’ time, my community interest company will still be here,” Scott said. “We are a pay-as-you-can bakery, and demand is starting to outstrip what I can provide as more people are accessing my services due to the cost-of-living crisis.
“I will provide my services for as long as I can but even for someone like me, who is usually stoic and positive, it’s starting to feel like an impossible task.”
Riz Malik, director of Southend-on-Sea-based R3 Mortgages, added that since the mini budget, he has gone from being confident about the outlook of UK Plc to being extremely worried.
“I keep on thinking I am in an episode of Dallas where tomorrow I will wake up, find Boris in the shower, and realise the past few weeks have been an exceptionally bad dream,” he said.
For Mark Robinson, managing director of Southampton-based Albion Forest Mortgages, it feels like the country’s economy is “balancing on a knife edge.”
“Unfortunately, we have the equivalent of Mr. Bean wielding the knife,” Robinson remarked. “I am confident that the British people will get through this together, but our government has shown that they don’t know what they are doing and are completely out of touch.
“If the government doesn’t get a handle on things, it isn’t just borrowers who will suffer with rising rates. Mortgage brokers, estate agents, solicitors, builders, letting agents, developers, surveyors, and many, many more sectors will struggle.”
