Robert Wood at Bank of America estimates there is a 35pc chance the UK will slip into recession, based on deteriorating consumer confidence.

Inflation hit 7pc in March, three and a half times the Bank of England’s 2pc target. It is expected to have risen further this month as a result of the 54pc rise in the household energy price cap, while workers have found their pay packets hit by the national insurance tax raid.

Real household disposable income is on track to fall at its fastest pace since records began in the 1950s as wages fail to keep up with the inflationary onslaught.

Spending on household goods stores, such as in DIY stores, increased on the month, but spending on clothes edged down.

Meanwhile, the latest purchasing managers’ index, a business survey from S&P Global and the Chartered Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply, dipped in April indicating growth in the private sector is slowing.

The index tracking services and manufacturing companies dropped to 57.6, well above the 50-mark which divides growth from contraction, but well down on the 59.7 recorded in March and 60.2 in February, indicating the rebound from the omicron wave of Covid is coming to an end.

Expectations for future growth slowed to their weakest since late 2020.

Chris Williamson, chief business economist at S&P Global, said companies reported falling demand amid rising prices, indicating “a marked cooling in the pace of UK economic growth during April”.

He said: “Orders received by manufacturers have almost stalled, driven by an increasing loss of exports, and growth of demand for services has slumped to among the weakest since the lockdowns of early 2021.”

It comes after Andrew Bailey, Governor of the Bank of England, warned that quickly lifting interest rates raises “the risk that that could create a recession”.