The economy grew in July according to figures released yesterday but is still seen as contracting overall in the third quarter.

The period of mourning, whether official or unofficial, will almost certainly mean that there will be contraction this month and there is nothing to suggest that August was anything other than average.

The Bank of England believes the economy will fall into a technical recession, where there are two consecutive quarters of contraction, or negative growth as economists prefer to call it. This will be followed by an ever-increasing slowdown that will last for the whole of next year.

The country will truly experience stagflation as a recession will be coupled by a level of inflation which is already considerable but will become significantly worse. There is likely to be large scale industrial action as the workforce demand wage increases that are keeping pace with rising inflation but employers struggling to keep costs down as the recession starts to bite will be unable to comply.

Liz Truss has been rather overtaken by events during her first week as Prime Minister. She has been forced to abandon her desire to hit the ground running, although she has found the time to provide support to help with the cost-of-living cruises.