The recession led to debate on both sides of the political fence over what was to blame
After more than 15 years of consecutive growth, the UK economy has ground to a halt, with newly released figures from the National Office for Statistics showing no growth from the first quarter of 2008.
As the economy teeters on the brink of recession the government has said that the effects of global pressures such as high commodity prices and the continuing credit squeeze are to blame.
Similar external factors were often cited the last time the UK weathered a recession, at the start of the 1990s.
That recession arrived after a decade of growth presided over by former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's Conservative government.
Panorama analyses how global recessionary factors affected the UK in the late 1980s
The period was defined by the government's radical economic policies which supporters dubbed "Thatcher's economic miracle".
Panorama's 1992 film Sliding Into Slump looked at the arguments behind the root causes of the recession and asked whether it undermined the Thatcher economic legacy.
That the late 1980s saw the start of an economic slowdown in the UK was undeniable.
However, government and opposition parties spent the next few years arguing over whether it was a blip, a slowdown or indeed a recession.
Finger of blame
By 1992 it was evident that the UK was in the grip of full-blown recession as unemployment rose to almost three million, interest rates hit double figures and factories closed.
The economic cycle is a fact of life. There have been these ups and downs throughout recorded history and there always will be
Nigel Lawson
Former Chancellor of the Exchequer
The recession was blamed on two possible theories.
The first, argued by Thatcher supporters, was that the chancellor from 1983 to 1989, Nigel Lawson, was personally responsible.
Quite simply, they claimed he had made an unforced error in his handling of the economy and in particular his tax-cutting budget of 1988 and his de-regulation of the financial markets.
Interviewed in the film, Mr Lawson himself admitted that he "certainly failed to recognise the full implications that financial de-regulation would have".
Thatcher legacy
However, he defended his record by stating that it was an illusion to suppose that recessions would not come about purely by avoiding mistakes.
He continued "that the economic cycle is a fact of life. There have been these ups and downs throughout recorded history and there always will be".
Others took a different view, blaming the UK's problems on a global recession in much the same way that's the UK's economic boom had mirrored global growth.
Nigel Lawson answers accusations that his policies helped create the recession
Sir Kit McMahon, the deputy governor of the Bank of England from 1980-1985 said "those reforms in the early 1980s were valuable in their own terms, but were not enough to change the economy or get it to higher growth".
The year 1992 marked the recession's peak and the Labour Government which swept to power in 1997 inherited an economy in much better shape.
It remains to be seen whether the current economic slowdown will last as long.
Panorama: Sliding Into Slump was broadcast on 4 May 1992.
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The economic cycle is a fact of life. There have been these ups and downs throughout recorded history and there always will be
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