Chancellor George Osborne’s much vaunted “recovery” suffered another blow yesterday as a survey revealed growth in Britain’s manufacturing sector slowed to a three-month low in December.

Industry monitoring group CIPS/Markit’s survey findings reported the “dismal” performance of the manufacturing sector as a “disappointment.”

Rob Dobson, senior economist at Markit, said: “The latest survey provides further evidence of the ongoing slowdown in the UK manufacturing sector, with output and new order growth easing to their second-weakest rates during the past year and a half.

“The main weak spot remains exports, with overseas new order inflows stagnating amid weaker economic growth in key markets and the ongoing lethargy of the euro area.”

The survey follows a reported slump in manufacturing in October when output fell by 0.7 per cent — the biggest drop since May.

In the light of continuing economic weakness, analysts expect the Bank of England to keep interest rates low.