A bleak picture of life for small businesses at the sharp end of the credit crunch is painted by the British Chambers of Commerce on Tuesday, in a survey of sentiment that warns of “exceptionally bad” conditions for enterprise.

The findings will add weight to the BCC’s call on Monday for the Bank of England to cut interest rates by half a percentage point on Thursday, a demand echoed by the CBI employers’ group. The third-quarter survey of 5,000 businesses of all sizes and sectors found that sales as well as orders had fallen more steeply than in the previous three months, in both the manufacturing and services sectors.