‘Relentless’ cost of living pressures behind collapse in UK consumer confidence

UK consumer confidence has plummeted by 11 percentage points to -24 in October, marking the fastest decline outside the Covid pandemic since the 2016 Brexit vote. According to GfK, this collapse is driven by relentless cost of living pressures and economic fallout from the war in the Middle East. These factors increase pressure on consumers and the chancellor ahead of the first budget, as the index measuring financial prospects suffers its largest monthly drop since 2020.