EU vote hits UK households and business morale, London hurt most

ritish consumer spending fell last month, the business outlook darkened by the most in four years and economic activity in London slowed sharply, according to three reports which showed the vote to leave the European Union starting to take a toll.

Figures for June from card company Visa, Lloyds Bank and financial data provider Markit pointed to nervousness among businesses and households in the run-up to the June 23 Brexit referendum and in the days immediately after.

Visa said consumer spending dropped for the second month in a row in June, down by 0.5 percent to leave overall purchases up just 1.4 percent on the year in the three months to June, the weakest inflation-adjusted growth since early 2014. Read More…