The continued rise in the cost of energy could see inflation reach 18% in the coming months, according to global banking giant Citibank. With the wholesale gas price rising by 25% in the past week alone, inflation would rival the levels last seen in the mid-1970s.

Were workers to demand wage increases to keep pace with inflation, it is also forecast that the Bank of England would be forced to hike interest rates to 7.5%, more than four times the current level.

A few months ago, as the country was optimistically looking forward to emerging stronger from the Pandemic and reaping the benefits of Brexit, such a Doomsday scenario was no more than the stuff of economist’s nightmares.

However, with industrial action spreading from criminal court Barristers to dockworkers, there seems little that the Government can do to halt the spiral into higher wage demand that will fuel inflation even more.

With the central bank already acknowledging that there is a recession on the way, all that can be done is to limit its effect.