Urgent government action is required to get banks lending again if the manufacturing sector is to avoid going into freefall, according to an economist at the Centre for Economics and Business Research.

Figures released by the Office for National Statistics show a sharp drop in production in November. Production industry output fell by 2.3% in November from October, the steepest monthly fall since June 2002 and far deeper than the -0.6% consensus expectation, the ninth month in a row of decline – meaning that production industries continue to be in a deep and serious recession.