British manufacturing growth slowed sharply in April, a survey showed, underlining the uneven nature of an economic recovery that is at the heart of a national election just six days away.
\nSeparate data showed consumer lending rising sharply, suggesting that the recovery is being driven by spending.
\nSterling hit a three-week low against the euro after the Markit\/CIPS UK Manufacturing Purchasing Managers\u2019 Index, a closely watched monthly business survey, suffered its biggest fall in more than two years.
\nComing after a surprising slowdown in growth in the first quarter, the survey will make gloomy reading for Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron and his finance minister, George Osborne, who promised a manufacturing revival shortly after coming to power in 2010.
\nTheir Conservative Party remains deadlocked in opinion polls with the opposition Labour party and the recent signs of a slowdown in the economy have complicated the Conservatives\u2019 decision to put the recovery at the center of their campaign.
\nBut separate data from the Bank of England showed households were happy to borrow more heavily. Lending to consumers in March surged at the fastest pace since before the financial crisis, and there was also sharp upturn in business borrowing.
\nTaken together, the figures suggested Britain\u2019s upturn is fueled by consumption.
\nStill, many economists expected the recovery to remain solid, blaming a stronger currency and uncertainty around the election for the weakness in manufacturing.
\nThe chief executive of one of Britain\u2019s biggest banks said he also expected growth to stay strong, despite uncertainty about the outcome of the May 7 election.
\n\u201cWe are favorable on the UK economy,\u201d Lloyds CEO Antonio Horta Osorio said.
\n\u201cIt continues to progress at a healthy pace and we continue to expect it to grow between 2.5 percent to 3 percent this year.\u201d
\nWhile holding above the 50 threshold for growth, the manufacturing PMI fell to a seven-month low of 51.9 from a downwardly revised 54.0 in March, far below all forecasts in a Reuters poll of economists.
\n\u201cAny signs of rebalancing the economy toward manufacturing and exports remain frustratingly elusive,\u201d said Rob Dobson, economist at survey compiler Markit.
\nEarlier this week official figures showed that economic growth in the first quarter was its slowest since late 2012, prompting Osborne, the finance minister, to warn voters not to take recovery for granted.
\nThe BoE data showed consumer lending grew by 1.24 billion pounds in March, the biggest monthly increase since February 2008 and higher than forecast.
\nThere was also a big jump in lending to business in March which was up by 2.72 billion pounds, the largest monthly increase since records began in mid-2011, the BoE.<\/p>\n