New orders in manufacturing fell to a fresh low in February, the CBI’s monthly industrial trends survey showed on Wednesday, suggesting that industry has declined even more quickly at the start of this year than it did in the final quarter of 2008.

The dire situation in the manufacturing sector came the Bank of England’s survey of its regional agents showed there were few exceptions to the prevailing gloom across the landscape of British business in January, as companies suffered from weaker consumer spending and investment, tighter credit, and widely planned to cut jobs,.