British manufacturing fell to a record low last month and activity in the eurozone shrank for the sixth month running.

Official figures released this morning from Markit/CIPS show the headline manufacturing purchasing manager's index (PMI) fell to 34.4 in November from a downwardly revised figure of 40.7 in October.

The drop is both the biggest one-month fall and the lowest level for PMI since the series began in 1992.

The PMI for the eurozone, the 15 countries which use the euro, fell to 35.6 points in November, down from 41.1 points in October, and worse than a first estimate of 36.2 points.

Rob Dobson, senior economist at Markit, said: "The scale of the downturn in UK manufacturing PMI data during November is unprecedented."

"These data suggest that the UK government and Monetary Policy Committee may need to consider additional support to the sector alongside recent sharp cuts in central bank borrowing rates."

The monthly meeting of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) takes place this week.

The MPC is expected to announce a cut interest rates of at least half a percentage point, following the 1.5 per cent reduction last month which took rates to 3 per cent.

New orders also hit a record low of 29.7 from 37.0.

Output fell, dropping almost 10 points from 41.0 to 31.9 on weakness in the car, consumer goods and construction sectors.

The latest input and output prices lend further weight to the Bank of England's expectations that inflation will drop well below its target of 2 per cent next year.

The input price index slipped to its lowest level in over six and-a-half-years, down to 44.2 from 54.5 last month. Most firms report falling prices once the index drops below 50.

Output prices rose at the slowest pace since April 2006, falling to 52.1 this month from 59.0 in October.

“As long as pipeline deflationary pressures do not become too entrenched, the drop in cost pressures will be a welcome development at UK manufacturing plants,” Mr Dobson said.

In the eurozone, manufacturing activity remained in contraction, with an index reading below 50, for the sixth consecutive month.

Howard Archer, chief UK and European economist at IHS Global Insight, said: “Eurozone manufacturing activity has fallen off a cliff.”

“Completing the worrying picture, the extreme weakness in manufacturing activity in November was widespread across the eurozone, with all countries seeing record contraction in activity, including Germany, France, Italy and, especially, Spain."

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