Businesses in Furness reacted with concern, but not surprise, as the UK economy officially slumped into recession yesterday.

The UK entered a recession - defined as two consecutive quarters of economic contraction - as the economy shrank 20.4 per cent compared with the first three months of the year.

Business figures agreed the recession had been inevitable for some months following the coronavirus lockdown and said now was the time to focus on the recovery.

David Herington, chief executive of Etail systems - based in Barrow - which provides online shopping software and solutions, said the company had been very busy during lockdown as internet trading boomed.

However, the “high peak” of this activity was beginning to drop off and some clients had gone bust while others had mothballed operations due to the virus.

“We as a business are being cautious with our cost control and we will certainly be downsizing our office and potentially not having an office,” he said.

“The recession will have a long-term effect, we are talking about three to five years, and there is a risk you can go into a downward spiral.

“For my business we are optimistic because we are growing, but it’s certainly a cause for worry.”

Barry Leahey MBE, managing director of playground equipment maker Playdale Playgrounds, in Haverthwaite, said businesses needed to prepare themselves to make a recovery.

“We knew it was coming and things may only get worse from here,” he said.

“Let’s create a culture and ambition to trade out of the recession.

“If you roll into a ball you will come out of it in 18 months to realise that the world has moved on.

“If you are going into a competition you have got to make sure you have cut your cloth to fit and you can begin training.

“Businesses are only going to get fitter by training the staff and innovating and maybe experiencing a little bit of failure so they can learn what success feels like. The only way we’re going to get out of this is to trade out of it.”