The insight: UK consumers are pumping the brakes on spending as fears of a trade war and concerns over the government’s budget weigh on confidence.

• Sales volumes fell in March by the most in eight months, according to the Confederation of British Industry’s monthly retailer survey. That marked the sixth consecutive month of declines.
• Three in 5 people (58%) feel the economy is worsening, up 15 percentage points from the previous quarter, per KPMG’s consumer pulse survey. That’s pushing 43% to cut spending on everyday items, 36% to save more, and 29% to defer big-ticket purchases.

More headwinds: Consumers are hardly likely to be reassured by the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s latest budget update, which will slash welfare spending by billions of pounds—a move that would leave 3.2 million families worse off and push 250,000 people into poverty, per the government’s own findings.