The survey of 5,000 businesses of varying sizes revealed a “serious risk of recession in the UK” with cashflow at a record low and sharply falling confidence in the manufacturing and service sectors.

Director general of the BCC David Frost, said: “The temptation for the Government will be to raise business taxes in the next PBR because the exchequer is running out of money. This would be a catastrophe.

“I am sending Alistair Darling and Gordon Brown a strong message from the businesses I meet every day up and down the country: to put more pressure on business would not only restrict growth and hit the consumer hard, it would further crush what our economy is based on – confidence.”

Andrew Brown, director of corporate affairs at the BPIF, described the current climate as “extremely worrying”.

He said: “Any sector that is linked to consumer demand is exposed if advertising is cut back, and print is amongst the most exposed in a recession.”

However, he added that it still may be too early to make predictions about the possibility of a recession.

A recession is defined as two quarters of consecutive negative growth. The net balance for manufacturers’ orders from within the UK dropped 13 points in Q2, to -5%, its lowest since Q4 2001.

Brown said that printers should be looking to drive efficiencies in their business to weather the storm as well as expanding into added value services like design, print-on-demand and data management.

He added that companies should look at strategic options such as an alliance or merger to harness the greater economies of scale.

For more on how to cut costs in a recession see this week’s PrintWeek.