UK consumer confidence slumps after Brexit, says YouGov/CEBR

Consumer confidence in the UK has collapsed in the days since the vote to leave the European Union, according to a survey by YouGov and the Centre for Economics and Business Research.

Their consumer confidence index, which measures people’s economic sentiment on a daily basis, has dropped to 104.3 from 111.9 in the first three weeks of June.

Stephen Harmston, head of YouGov reports, said: “Four days of uncertainty have wiped out the gains made over the last three years. The last time consumer confidence was at this level was in May 2013. While it has not yet plumbed the depths of the financial crisis in 2008, when it fell to a score of 67.4, it is only a week after the referendum and we fully expect it to decline further as the consequences of Brexit kick-in.”

He noted that consumer confidence had already fallen sharply between May and June as people became increasingly nervous about the future. The main reasons for this were homeowners’ concerns about property prices over the next 12 months and the levels of business activity at people’s workplace in the coming year.

“It is clear that Brexit could lead to a marked slowdown in the economy over the coming months and recession certainly cannot be ruled out at this point. Our latest data show just how spooked households are by recent developments. In the coming months this is likely to filter through into a much weaker environment for retail sales and household spending – particularly on big ticket items.”

Also on Thursday a survey from market research firm GfK showed its long-running consumer confidence index was unchanged in June at -1.