UK factory production slumped to a one-and-a-half year low last month with manufacturers 'hunkering down' as they brace for rising costs and global trade disruption, a new survey shows. The S&P Global UK manufacturing PMI survey showed a reading of 44.9 in March, the lowest since October 2023. The level of new business received fell at one of the quickest rates since the pandemic in 2020, and firms cited concerns about rises to the national minimum wage and employer national insurance as well as the threat of tariffs as reasons for the decline.