The deteriorating conditions for UK manufacturing were starkly underlined yesterday by news that falling orders have forced the carmaker Nissan to halt production for two of its Sunderland-made models for two weeks.

Production of the Micra and Note has been cancelled from Friday. When output of the models resumes on November 10 their production lines will, for the next fortnight, run only an average of three days a week and speed will be cut by 10 per cent to slow output.