ECONOMISTS warned yesterday that Britain could be due another slump as revised official data showed weaker than expected annual growth following a collapse in investment and a record trade deficit.

The latest evidence that Chancellor George Osborne’s back-of-a-fag-packet economic “plan” has failed saw the Office for National Statistics (ONS) downgrade its growth estimate between October 2013 and September 2014 to 2.6 per cent — 0.4 points lower than previously reported.

Its latest figures also revealed that most of the economy’s expansion has come from household spending as big businesses sit on hoards of cash, refusing to invest.

“Today’s figures confirm the total inability of Osborne’s policies to rebalance the economy or generate sustainable economic growth,” said co-ordinator Andrew Fisher of economic analysts Leap.

“As long as incomes continue to stagnate, there will be no pick-up in consumer demand and no incentive for business investment.

“Most worryingly, continued reliance on household consumption, as debt levels rise, exposes the economy to the risk of a new downturn in 2015-16.”

Household spending rose by 0.9 per cent in the third quarter of 2014, but over the same period business investment plummeted by 1.4 per cent — the worst figure since 2009.

Trade figures also revealed a growing trade deficit in manufactured goods, although “services” exports — mainly City of London dealings — recorded a larger surplus.

Labour shadow Treasury minister Shabana Mahood branded the figures “concerning” and warned that they reflected an imbalanced economy.