Dire figures from Britain's manufacturers today will put extra pressure on the Bank of England to make a big cut in interest rates this week.

British manufacturing is facing the toughest conditions for two decades as job losses accelerate, investment intentions collapse and domestic orders drop to their weakest level since 2001, the EEF industry organisation will warn today.

The EEF survey showed factory outputs plummeted in the last quarter and with orders, prices and margins all under growing pressure, the industry group is expecting redundancies of up to 90,000 next year.

The Independent