The Bank of England’s base rate is at its lowest point since 1951 but for Chris Davies, chief executive of SIG, a Sheffield-based distributor of insulation and other products to the construction industry, that is not going to solve the underlying problem in the business world: lack of trust.

“I think the cut was widely trailed, it had been talked about almost from the moment the previous [interest rate] cut was announced and, of course, it’s welcome. But I don’t think anybody really expects it will have much immediate impact on the economic situation in the UK,” he says.