Apart from the headline widening of the trade deficit in June to £4.3 billion, from £2.7 billion in May - and a second quarter widening to £11.2 billion, from £7.8 billion in the first quarter - the most disturbing aspect of the latest trade figures is the performance of exports.

The Office for National Statistics says export volumes, excluding oil and erratic items, fell by 3.3% in the second quarter, while import volumes dropped by 0.5%. There is clearly a eurozone effect here: in the second quarter the value of exports to the rest of the EU was down by 9.9% on a year earlier, while non-EU exports were up by 9.7%. More here.