article_snippet: Inflation has fallen to zero
article_snippet: – Inflation lowest level for more than half a century – and Britain looks set for a period of deflation or falling prices.
article_snippet: Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls said the recovery had been the slowest in 100 years.
article_snippet: However, in a setback for the Government, the services sector, which powers much of the economy, has slipped back.
article_snippet: Output from services firms – which make up about 78 per cent of GDP and range from hotels to hairdressers – fell 0.2 per cent in January.
article_snippet: Martin Beck, senior economic advisor to the EY Item Club, said the services figures were ‘disappointing’ but described the services figures as a ‘blip’.
article_snippet: This compares to a record low of -39 during the Labour years, recorded at the height of the financial crisis in July 2008.
article_snippet: ‘Investment in business is woefully weak.