The bounce in consumer confidence observed after the May Bank Holiday has been steadily eroded, according to Nationwide Building Society’s Consumer Confidence Index for August 2011.

Three successive monthly falls have left the Index languishing just seven points above the all time lows recorded in February 2011, and 30 percentage points below its long-run average reading of 78.

Robert Gardner, Nationwide’s chief economist, said: “There was a raft of bad news in August