THERE has been a fairly steady stream of gloomier economic data and surveys in recent weeks, pointing to a renewed slowdown in UK growth.

Official figures last week underlined the UK manufacturing sector’s woes and showed a widening of the country’s global goods trade deficit against a backdrop of tumbling exports. They made grim reading.

However, the warning signals are not confined to manufacturing. A survey published earlier this month by the Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply showed growth in the UK’s dominant services sector slowing in August to its weakest pace for more than two years.

And Bank of Scotland’s Purchasing Managers’ Index report this week showed growth north of the Border decelerated in August to its weakest rate since April as manufacturing and services expansion slowed.

On Wednesday, we had news of a significant year-on-year fall in Scottish retail sales. The Scottish Retail Consortium (SRC) said sales value north of the Border last month had been down 2.4 per cent on August 2014.

And, earlier this month, a survey from the Federation of Small Businesses showed faltering confidence among member firms in Scotland in the latest three months, and signalled an overall fall in profits for this crucial sector of the economy after five consecutive quarters of growth.

Confidence among small firms in Scotland was much weaker than the UK average, according to the FSB.

And year-on-year movements in Scottish retail sales value, as reported by the SRC, have been consistently weaker than those reported by the British Retail Consortium for the UK as a whole. The SRC has noted consumer confidence has been weaker in Scotland than in the UK as a whole. And it has flagged a stronger economic and housing market performance in London and south-east England than in other parts of the UK.

However, while some of the economic statistics have been weaker for Scotland, it is important to recognise the broader UK picture is anything but bright.

And we should not underestimate the extent to which the economy in London and south-east England has been boosted by red-hot house prices, at a time when base rates remain stuck at a record low of 0.5 per cent because of overall economic weakness.

Bank of England Governor Mark Carney has warned about household debt levels in the UK. We should heed this warning, and be aware of the problems that could arise when interest rates do eventually start to rise.

We should also recognise the danger of people spending far too much of their retirement savings as a result of pension freedoms put in place by Chancellor George Osborne.

Mr Osborne had been hoping the manufacturing sector would get the UK economy going, as he slashed corporation tax and heaped the misery of austerity on the low-paid and unemployed. With this hope dashed, he instead embarked on emergency action to fuel the residential property market with huge Government-backed schemes implemented in plenty of time for the last General Election and put in place the measures to enable people to spend their pension cash much more easily.

You cannot help but think fuelling the housing market and allowing people to splash their pension cash are irresponsible measures at this juncture.

And, even with these interventionist measures and before much of Mr Osborne’s latest raft of grinding austerity hits home, we have official figures this week showing annual UK consumer prices index inflation fell back to zero in August.

It goes without saying this is not a sign of a healthy economy.

And the poor UK manufacturing output and trade figures prompted British Chambers of Commerce to sound another warning about the fragility of the economic recovery.

Manufacturing output fell by a seasonally-adjusted 0.8 per cent in July, having dropped 0.3 per cent in the second quarter. And the UK’s global goods trade deficit widened from £8.51 billion in June to £11.1bn in July, as exports tumbled.

There continues to be debate about whether the UK economy is strong enough to withstand a quarter-point rise in benchmark interest rates. What a sorry state of affairs.

Amid this gloom, at least one survey has provided some cheer. This was another survey by the FSB and, unlike the retail sales figures, the PMI report, and small business confidence readings, the findings were much brighter for Scotland than other parts of the UK.

Specifically, the report showed about three in five of the FSB’s members in Scotland would vote for the UK to remain in the European Union if the referendum promised by Prime Minister David Cameron by 2017 were held now. Only 25.7 per cent of FSB members in Scotland signalled a vote to leave the single market.

The FSB cited high-profile debate about the likely impact of an EU exit in the run-up to last September’s referendum on Scottish independence as a possible reason for the far stronger support north of the Border for remaining part of the free trade bloc.

If this is the reason, it might mean that a focus on the reality of the situation will strengthen support for continuing UK membership of the EU among people in England as the debate progresses. We must certainly hope so because the FSB report and a recent survey of the public by Survation signal there is not much difference in England between the proportions wanting to stay in, and preferring exit from, the EU.

An EU exit is one of the biggest risks facing the UK economy. And, with the economy still very weak more than eight years on from the start of the financial crisis, the last thing we need right now is for this risk to crystallise.