Huge slump in UK consumer confidence

British consumer confidence took its biggest knock for nearly 20 years after the VAT hike earlier this month, leading to warnings that the UK economy could be facing "a very painful period".

There was an "astonishing" eight-point fall in a key measure of consumer confidence to -29 between December and January, the biggest monthly drop since the 1992 recession, according to the survey by GfK NOP Social Research.