Businesses’ confidence in the UK economy has plunged further as employers scale back hiring and investment plans amid growing Brexit-related turmoil, a survey has found.
As MPs prepare for another round of indicative votes in the House of Commons, optimism among British firms has dropped further. It is now 54 percentage points lower than it was in June 2016, when the EU referendum took place.
UK firms have sharply scaled back their hiring and investment plans, a survey of 600 employers from the Recruitment and Employment Confederation found.
“For months, businesses have told us that they were concerned about the general outlook for the economy. It is clear to us that this concern is now closer to home,” REC Chief Executive Neil Carberry said.
“The extension to the Brexit deadline gives us some space to find a pragmatic deal that will give the UK’s businesses the certainty they need to invest and create jobs.”
1/50 26 March 2019
PD Marci with handler PC Neil Billany, PD Kai with handler PC Jean Pearce, PD Bruno with handler Rob Smith, PD Delta with handler PC Mark Snoxhall, PDSA vet Rosamund Ford, and PD Dave with handler PC Andy Salter at Borough market in London where the dogs were honoured with the PDSA Order of Merit for helping emergency services during the 2017 London terror attacks at Westminster Bridge, London Bridge and Borough Market
PA
2/50 25 March 2019
Britain’s Attorney General Geoffrey Cox arrives in Downing street, London for a cabinet meeting. British Prime Minister Theresa May will today chair a potentially volatile meeting of her cabinet amid reports of an attempted coup by colleagues over her handling of Brexit.
AFP/Getty
3/50 24 March 2019
Workers peeling off stickers left on the Cabinet Office door on Whitehall, London, left by anti-Brexit campaigners after they took part in the People’s Vote March
PA
4/50 23 March 2019
Protesters take part in the Put It To The People March on Whitehall in London. Thousands of protesters gathered for the march from Park Lane to Parliament Square calling for a public vote on the Governments final Brexit deal
Getty
5/50 22 March 2019
Britain’s Prime Minister Theresa May leaves after a news briefing after meeting with EU leaders in Brussels
Reuters
6/50 21 March 2019
The mosque and community centre on Albert Road in Birmingham where a police forensic team are at work after it had its windows smashed with a sledgehammer. An investigation involving counter-terrorism officers has been launched after four mosques in the Birmingham area were attacked overnight
PA
7/50 20 March 2019
Gallery technicians install Edvard Munch’s The Scream at the British Museum in London, ahead of the opening of Edvard Munch: love and angst exhibition, which runs from 11 April to 21 July
PA
8/50 19 March 2019
The ‘tall ship’ William II passes a wind turbine as it sails along the north east coast near Whitley Bay in Tyne and Wear after it set off from Blyth in Northumberland on a voyage round the coastline of Great Britain calling at 10 ports en route and changing crews at each stage. The Blyth Tall Ship project is a charity working alongside Blyth community volunteers to recapture the spirit of adventure that was employed in the town to discover the Antarctic 200 years ago and the turbine is part of a pilot field operated by EDF off Blyth which uses concrete float-and-submerge foundations
PA
9/50 18 March 2019
Messenger, the largest bronze cast sculpture in the UK, arrives in Plymouth Sound by barge as it makes its way to be installed outside Theater Royal Plymouth, Devon
PA
10/50 17 March 2019
Flooding in Silsdend, Yorkshire. Heavy rain has caused widespread flooding across the country. Flood warnings remain in place across the UK
PA
11/50 16 March 2019
Police at the scene in Fulham, west London where a 29-year-old man was stabbed to death this morning. The Metropolitan Police said it was called “to reports of a fight in progress” by ambulance crews and arrived on the scene at about 12.27am. The victim was found with stab wounds and died at the scene at 12.56am despite attempts by paramedics and members of the public to save his life
PA
12/50 15 March 2019
Schoolchildren gather around Queen Victoria Memorial at Buckingham Palace as they take part in a student climate protest in London. Thousands of pupils from schools, colleges and universities across the UK will walk out in the second major strike against climate change this year. Young people nationwide are calling on the Government to declare a climate emergency and take action. Similar strikes are taking place around the world today including in Japan and Australia, inspired by 16-year-old Greta Thunberg who criticised world leaders at a United Nations climate conference
Getty
13/50 14 March 2019
Families of those killed during Bloody Sunday march through Bogside in Derry, Northern Ireland. The Public Prosecution Service announced only one former British soldier is to be put on trial in connection with his role in the shootings that left 13 people dead in Derry on 30 January 1972. Families of those killed gathered outside The Museum of Free Derry, yards from where the killings took place, before marching to the city centre hotel to hear the announcement
Charles McQuillan
Getty
14/50 13 March 2019
Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond leaves 11 Downing Street as he heads to the House of Commons, to deliver his Spring Statement. He announced he was slashing the UK growth forecast and warned no-deal Brexit will destroy pledge to end austerity
PA
15/50 12 March 2019
British Synchronised swimmers Kate Shortman and Isabelle Thorpe, attempting to recreate their World Championship routine in a pool filled with plastic for The Big Bang Fair challenge, opening this week at the NEC Birmingham. The campaign for the Big Bang competition, which is the largest celebration of science, technology, engineering and maths (Stem) for young people in the UK has been created to help highlight how the eight million tonnes of plastic dumped in the world’s oceans every year affects marine life
PA
16/50 11 March 2019
Snow surrounds the Tan Hill pub in North Yorkshire
PA
17/50 10 March 2019
A man feeds food to dogs during the ‘Brexit Dogs Dinner’ protest outside the Houses of Parliament in London
Reuters
18/50 9 March 2019
Protesters from the climate change pressure group Extinction Rebellion demonstrate by pouring fake blood onto the street outside Downing Street in London
Reuters
19/50 8 March 2019
A woman runs with her Komondor dog as it is judged in a show ring on the second day of the Crufts dog show at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham
AFP/Getty
20/50 7 March 2019
Scaffolding which has blown down in strong winds in Hampstead, north London
Robert Berg/Twitter/PA Wire
21/50 6 March 2019
Police and bomb disposal services outside the University of Glasgow after the building was evacuated when a suspect package was found in the mailroom
PA
22/50 5 March 2019
Police officers secure the scene where a suspicious package was found near Waterloo railway station. Other packages were also found at Heathrow Airport and London City Airport, with the police saying they were bombs. Counterterror officers are investigating the three devices as linked following a series of evacuations. One of the packages opened by office staff at Heathrow Airport burst into flames. Scotland Yard did not rule out the existence of other bombs. “The packages – all A4-sized white postal bags containing yellow Jiffy bags – have been assessed by specialist officers to be small improvised explosive devices,” a spokesperson said. “These devices, at this early stage of the investigation, appear capable of igniting an initially small fire when opened. “The Met Police Counter Terrorism Command is treating the incidents as a linked series and is keeping an open mind regarding motives.”
Reuters
23/50 4 March 2019
Large waves crash over the sea walls at Cleveleys near Blackpool, as the remains of Storm Freya, which has battered Britain with gales, heavy rain and snow causes widespread travel disruption
PA
24/50 3 March 2019
Christopher Hepworth with partner Tanisha Prince (right) on their way to victory in the annual UK Wife Carrying Race at The Nower in Dorking, Surrey
PA
25/50 2 March 2019
Police officers search near the scene on St Neot’s Road in Harold Hill, east London following the fatal stabbing of a 17-year-old girl on Friday night. Police were called to reports of a knife attack in the Romford area by the ambulance service at 9.25pm. The girl was pronounced dead at the scene just over an hour later. Her next of kin have been informed and detectives from the Metropolitan Police have launched a murder investigation
PA
26/50 1 March 2019
Great Britain’s Katarina Johnson-Thompson and Niamh Emerson celebrate after winning gold and silver medals in the women’s pentathlon at the 2019 European Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow
Getty
27/50 28 February 2019
A painting, believed to be the second version of “Judith Beheading Holofernes” by Italian artist Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, is picutred during a photocall in London following its restoration. – The 400-year-old canvas — depicting the beheading of an Assyrian general, Holofernes, by Judith from the biblical Book of Judith — was found in 2014 when the owners of a house near the southwestern city of Toulouse in France, were investigating a leak in the ceiling. It is a burst of violence painted in haunting tones by a Renaissance master worth at least $100 million — or yet another fake distressing the art world.
AFP/Getty
28/50 27 February 2019
Dozens of firefighters worked through the night to battle a major moorland blaze in West Yorkshire. More than 1.5sq km of Saddleworth Moor was ablaze in the early hours of Wednesday morning after the UK’s hottest winter day on record
Reuters
29/50 26 February 2019
Alastair Cook after he received his knighthood at Buckingham Palace
PA
30/50 25 February 2019
Nobby the polar bear cools down at the Yorkshire Wildlife Park during unseasonably warm weather. The park was covered in a blanket of snow at the end of February 2018 as the UK was hit by sub-zero temperatures. Forecasters have said that after this weekend’s warm weather, temperatures later this week should return to normal
PA
31/50 24 February 2019
Olivia Colman won the best actress in a leading role award for ‘The Favourite’ at the 91st Academy Awards in Hollywood
PA
32/50 23 February 2019
Former English Defence League leader Tommy Robinson seen on the big screen as he addresses a protest over the BBC’s Panorama programme outside the BBC in MediaCityUK, Salford
PA
33/50 22 February 2019
A girl takes a photo of her dog with daffodils in St James’s Park in London
PA
34/50 21 February 2019
Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn and the party’s Shadow Secretary of State for Departing the European Union Keir Starmer leave a meeting with European Union Chief Brexit Negotiator Michel Barnier at the EU Commission headquarters in Brussels
Reuters
35/50 20 February 2019
Chris Leslie, Gavin Shuker, Chuka Umunna and Mike Gapes, (middle row, left to right) Angela Smith, Luciana Berger and Ann Coffey, (front row, left to right) Sarah Woollaston, Heidi Allen, Anna Soubry and Joan Ryan, following a press conference for the Independent Group where the three Conservative MPs, Woollaston, Allen and Soubry, announced their resignation from the party
PA
36/50 19 February 2019
A full moon sets near Whitley Bay, North Tyneside as the sun begins to rise, ahead of the super snow moon on Tuesday evening
PA
37/50 18 February 2019
MP Chuka Umunna speaks during the announcement of his resignation, along with a group of six other Labour MPs, including, Luciana Berger, Mike Gapes, Angela Smith, Chris Leslie, Ann Coffey and Gavin Shuker and who will be known as the Independent Group
PA
38/50 17 February 2019
Climate change activists block the road as part of an Extinction Rebellion protest outside a London Fashion Week event at Tate Britain in London, calling on the fashion industry to use its influence to help to create a sustainable world.
PA
39/50 16 February 2019
Demonstrators hold a banner during a protest over BP and Iraq at the British Museum in London, Britain
Reuters
40/50 15 February 2019
Schoolchildren take part in a student climate march in Parliament Square in London. Thousands of UK pupils from schools, colleges and universities will walk out for a nationwide climate change strike. Students in 60 cities from the West Country to Scotland are protesting, urging the government to declare a climate emergency and take action over the problem. They are keen that the national curriculum is reformed and the environmental crisis is communicated to the public. Similar strikes have taken place in Australia and in European countries such as Belgium and Sweden
Getty
41/50 14 February 2019
A lady enjoys the beach in sunshine in Brighton, East Sussex. The Met Office forecast said Thursday and Friday would see early fog patches followed by plenty of sunshine
PA
42/50 13 February 2019
Jockeys compete in the space hopper derby during the Injured Jockeys Fund Charity Raceday at Plumpton Racecourse
PA
43/50 12 February 2019
Young members of Britain’s opposition Labour party write on a billboard why they want Jeremy Corbyn the party leader to back a “People’s Vote” second referendum on Britain’s European Union membership, during a publicity stunt in Islington North, Corbyn’s north London constituency. The event was organized Tuesday by “For our Future’s Sake” (FFS), a nationwide group of students and young people working to stop Brexit, with the billboard provided by “Led By Donkeys” a remain supporting group using online crowd funding to pay for billboard space to put up posters highlighting quotes on Brexit made by politicians and organizations.
AP
44/50 11 February 2019
Western lowland gorilla Kera, opens presents intended for her daughter Afia, in celebration of her third birthday at Bristol Zoo Gardens
PA
45/50 10 February 2019
Olivia Colman with her Bafta award for Best Actress in a Leading Role for ‘The Favourite’ at the 72nd British Academy Film Awards held at the Royal Albert Hall. The Favourite took home seven awards during the night
PA
46/50 9 February 2019
Dwain Chambers made his sprint comeback in the 60m event at the British Indoor Championships. The 40-year-old came in second during his heat with a time of 6.78 however after a false start and a disqualification in the semi-final he failed to progress any further. The qualifying time for next month’s European Indoor Championships in Glasgow is 6.60 seconds
PA
47/50 8 February 2019
A model during a photo call for fashion presentation Fashion in Motion: Inspired by Christian Dior at the Victoria and Albert Museum, in South Kensington, London
PA
48/50 7 February 2019
President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker receives Prime Minister Theresa May, in the VIP corner of The Berlaymont, the headquarters of the European Commission in Brussels. The EU and UK have agreed to restart Brexit talks to find “a way through” the deadlock in Westminster, following her visit
Getty
49/50 6 February 2019
The group of activists who stopped a deportation flight leaving Stansted Airport have walked free from court and are to appeal their convictions. The defendants, who have become known as the Stansted 15, said they were “guilty of nothing more than intervening to prevent harm” to migrants on board the plane
PA
50/50 5 February 2019
Emergency services attend to a house fire Stafford in which four children have died. Two adults and a fifth child are being treated in hospital
SWNS
1/50 26 March 2019
PD Marci with handler PC Neil Billany, PD Kai with handler PC Jean Pearce, PD Bruno with handler Rob Smith, PD Delta with handler PC Mark Snoxhall, PDSA vet Rosamund Ford, and PD Dave with handler PC Andy Salter at Borough market in London where the dogs were honoured with the PDSA Order of Merit for helping emergency services during the 2017 London terror attacks at Westminster Bridge, London Bridge and Borough Market
PA
2/50 25 March 2019
Britain’s Attorney General Geoffrey Cox arrives in Downing street, London for a cabinet meeting. British Prime Minister Theresa May will today chair a potentially volatile meeting of her cabinet amid reports of an attempted coup by colleagues over her handling of Brexit.
AFP/Getty
3/50 24 March 2019
Workers peeling off stickers left on the Cabinet Office door on Whitehall, London, left by anti-Brexit campaigners after they took part in the People’s Vote March
PA
4/50 23 March 2019
Protesters take part in the Put It To The People March on Whitehall in London. Thousands of protesters gathered for the march from Park Lane to Parliament Square calling for a public vote on the Governments final Brexit deal
Getty
5/50 22 March 2019
Britain’s Prime Minister Theresa May leaves after a news briefing after meeting with EU leaders in Brussels
Reuters
6/50 21 March 2019
The mosque and community centre on Albert Road in Birmingham where a police forensic team are at work after it had its windows smashed with a sledgehammer. An investigation involving counter-terrorism officers has been launched after four mosques in the Birmingham area were attacked overnight
PA
7/50 20 March 2019
Gallery technicians install Edvard Munch’s The Scream at the British Museum in London, ahead of the opening of Edvard Munch: love and angst exhibition, which runs from 11 April to 21 July
PA
8/50 19 March 2019
The ‘tall ship’ William II passes a wind turbine as it sails along the north east coast near Whitley Bay in Tyne and Wear after it set off from Blyth in Northumberland on a voyage round the coastline of Great Britain calling at 10 ports en route and changing crews at each stage. The Blyth Tall Ship project is a charity working alongside Blyth community volunteers to recapture the spirit of adventure that was employed in the town to discover the Antarctic 200 years ago and the turbine is part of a pilot field operated by EDF off Blyth which uses concrete float-and-submerge foundations
PA
9/50 18 March 2019
Messenger, the largest bronze cast sculpture in the UK, arrives in Plymouth Sound by barge as it makes its way to be installed outside Theater Royal Plymouth, Devon
PA
10/50 17 March 2019
Flooding in Silsdend, Yorkshire. Heavy rain has caused widespread flooding across the country. Flood warnings remain in place across the UK
PA
11/50 16 March 2019
Police at the scene in Fulham, west London where a 29-year-old man was stabbed to death this morning. The Metropolitan Police said it was called “to reports of a fight in progress” by ambulance crews and arrived on the scene at about 12.27am. The victim was found with stab wounds and died at the scene at 12.56am despite attempts by paramedics and members of the public to save his life
PA
12/50 15 March 2019
Schoolchildren gather around Queen Victoria Memorial at Buckingham Palace as they take part in a student climate protest in London. Thousands of pupils from schools, colleges and universities across the UK will walk out in the second major strike against climate change this year. Young people nationwide are calling on the Government to declare a climate emergency and take action. Similar strikes are taking place around the world today including in Japan and Australia, inspired by 16-year-old Greta Thunberg who criticised world leaders at a United Nations climate conference
Getty
13/50 14 March 2019
Families of those killed during Bloody Sunday march through Bogside in Derry, Northern Ireland. The Public Prosecution Service announced only one former British soldier is to be put on trial in connection with his role in the shootings that left 13 people dead in Derry on 30 January 1972. Families of those killed gathered outside The Museum of Free Derry, yards from where the killings took place, before marching to the city centre hotel to hear the announcement
Charles McQuillan
Getty
14/50 13 March 2019
Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond leaves 11 Downing Street as he heads to the House of Commons, to deliver his Spring Statement. He announced he was slashing the UK growth forecast and warned no-deal Brexit will destroy pledge to end austerity
PA
15/50 12 March 2019
British Synchronised swimmers Kate Shortman and Isabelle Thorpe, attempting to recreate their World Championship routine in a pool filled with plastic for The Big Bang Fair challenge, opening this week at the NEC Birmingham. The campaign for the Big Bang competition, which is the largest celebration of science, technology, engineering and maths (Stem) for young people in the UK has been created to help highlight how the eight million tonnes of plastic dumped in the world’s oceans every year affects marine life
PA
16/50 11 March 2019
Snow surrounds the Tan Hill pub in North Yorkshire
PA
17/50 10 March 2019
A man feeds food to dogs during the ‘Brexit Dogs Dinner’ protest outside the Houses of Parliament in London
Reuters
18/50 9 March 2019
Protesters from the climate change pressure group Extinction Rebellion demonstrate by pouring fake blood onto the street outside Downing Street in London
Reuters
19/50 8 March 2019
A woman runs with her Komondor dog as it is judged in a show ring on the second day of the Crufts dog show at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham
AFP/Getty
20/50 7 March 2019
Scaffolding which has blown down in strong winds in Hampstead, north London
Robert Berg/Twitter/PA Wire
21/50 6 March 2019
Police and bomb disposal services outside the University of Glasgow after the building was evacuated when a suspect package was found in the mailroom
PA
22/50 5 March 2019
Police officers secure the scene where a suspicious package was found near Waterloo railway station. Other packages were also found at Heathrow Airport and London City Airport, with the police saying they were bombs. Counterterror officers are investigating the three devices as linked following a series of evacuations. One of the packages opened by office staff at Heathrow Airport burst into flames. Scotland Yard did not rule out the existence of other bombs. “The packages – all A4-sized white postal bags containing yellow Jiffy bags – have been assessed by specialist officers to be small improvised explosive devices,” a spokesperson said. “These devices, at this early stage of the investigation, appear capable of igniting an initially small fire when opened. “The Met Police Counter Terrorism Command is treating the incidents as a linked series and is keeping an open mind regarding motives.”
Reuters
23/50 4 March 2019
Large waves crash over the sea walls at Cleveleys near Blackpool, as the remains of Storm Freya, which has battered Britain with gales, heavy rain and snow causes widespread travel disruption
PA
24/50 3 March 2019
Christopher Hepworth with partner Tanisha Prince (right) on their way to victory in the annual UK Wife Carrying Race at The Nower in Dorking, Surrey
PA
25/50 2 March 2019
Police officers search near the scene on St Neot’s Road in Harold Hill, east London following the fatal stabbing of a 17-year-old girl on Friday night. Police were called to reports of a knife attack in the Romford area by the ambulance service at 9.25pm. The girl was pronounced dead at the scene just over an hour later. Her next of kin have been informed and detectives from the Metropolitan Police have launched a murder investigation
PA
26/50 1 March 2019
Great Britain’s Katarina Johnson-Thompson and Niamh Emerson celebrate after winning gold and silver medals in the women’s pentathlon at the 2019 European Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow
Getty
27/50 28 February 2019
A painting, believed to be the second version of “Judith Beheading Holofernes” by Italian artist Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, is picutred during a photocall in London following its restoration. – The 400-year-old canvas — depicting the beheading of an Assyrian general, Holofernes, by Judith from the biblical Book of Judith — was found in 2014 when the owners of a house near the southwestern city of Toulouse in France, were investigating a leak in the ceiling. It is a burst of violence painted in haunting tones by a Renaissance master worth at least $100 million — or yet another fake distressing the art world.
AFP/Getty
28/50 27 February 2019
Dozens of firefighters worked through the night to battle a major moorland blaze in West Yorkshire. More than 1.5sq km of Saddleworth Moor was ablaze in the early hours of Wednesday morning after the UK’s hottest winter day on record
Reuters
29/50 26 February 2019
Alastair Cook after he received his knighthood at Buckingham Palace
PA
30/50 25 February 2019
Nobby the polar bear cools down at the Yorkshire Wildlife Park during unseasonably warm weather. The park was covered in a blanket of snow at the end of February 2018 as the UK was hit by sub-zero temperatures. Forecasters have said that after this weekend’s warm weather, temperatures later this week should return to normal
PA
31/50 24 February 2019
Olivia Colman won the best actress in a leading role award for ‘The Favourite’ at the 91st Academy Awards in Hollywood
PA
32/50 23 February 2019
Former English Defence League leader Tommy Robinson seen on the big screen as he addresses a protest over the BBC’s Panorama programme outside the BBC in MediaCityUK, Salford
PA
33/50 22 February 2019
A girl takes a photo of her dog with daffodils in St James’s Park in London
PA
34/50 21 February 2019
Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn and the party’s Shadow Secretary of State for Departing the European Union Keir Starmer leave a meeting with European Union Chief Brexit Negotiator Michel Barnier at the EU Commission headquarters in Brussels
Reuters
35/50 20 February 2019
Chris Leslie, Gavin Shuker, Chuka Umunna and Mike Gapes, (middle row, left to right) Angela Smith, Luciana Berger and Ann Coffey, (front row, left to right) Sarah Woollaston, Heidi Allen, Anna Soubry and Joan Ryan, following a press conference for the Independent Group where the three Conservative MPs, Woollaston, Allen and Soubry, announced their resignation from the party
PA
36/50 19 February 2019
A full moon sets near Whitley Bay, North Tyneside as the sun begins to rise, ahead of the super snow moon on Tuesday evening
PA
37/50 18 February 2019
MP Chuka Umunna speaks during the announcement of his resignation, along with a group of six other Labour MPs, including, Luciana Berger, Mike Gapes, Angela Smith, Chris Leslie, Ann Coffey and Gavin Shuker and who will be known as the Independent Group
PA
38/50 17 February 2019
Climate change activists block the road as part of an Extinction Rebellion protest outside a London Fashion Week event at Tate Britain in London, calling on the fashion industry to use its influence to help to create a sustainable world.
PA
39/50 16 February 2019
Demonstrators hold a banner during a protest over BP and Iraq at the British Museum in London, Britain
Reuters
40/50 15 February 2019
Schoolchildren take part in a student climate march in Parliament Square in London. Thousands of UK pupils from schools, colleges and universities will walk out for a nationwide climate change strike. Students in 60 cities from the West Country to Scotland are protesting, urging the government to declare a climate emergency and take action over the problem. They are keen that the national curriculum is reformed and the environmental crisis is communicated to the public. Similar strikes have taken place in Australia and in European countries such as Belgium and Sweden
Getty
41/50 14 February 2019
A lady enjoys the beach in sunshine in Brighton, East Sussex. The Met Office forecast said Thursday and Friday would see early fog patches followed by plenty of sunshine
PA
42/50 13 February 2019
Jockeys compete in the space hopper derby during the Injured Jockeys Fund Charity Raceday at Plumpton Racecourse
PA
43/50 12 February 2019
Young members of Britain’s opposition Labour party write on a billboard why they want Jeremy Corbyn the party leader to back a “People’s Vote” second referendum on Britain’s European Union membership, during a publicity stunt in Islington North, Corbyn’s north London constituency. The event was organized Tuesday by “For our Future’s Sake” (FFS), a nationwide group of students and young people working to stop Brexit, with the billboard provided by “Led By Donkeys” a remain supporting group using online crowd funding to pay for billboard space to put up posters highlighting quotes on Brexit made by politicians and organizations.
AP
44/50 11 February 2019
Western lowland gorilla Kera, opens presents intended for her daughter Afia, in celebration of her third birthday at Bristol Zoo Gardens
PA
45/50 10 February 2019
Olivia Colman with her Bafta award for Best Actress in a Leading Role for ‘The Favourite’ at the 72nd British Academy Film Awards held at the Royal Albert Hall. The Favourite took home seven awards during the night
PA
46/50 9 February 2019
Dwain Chambers made his sprint comeback in the 60m event at the British Indoor Championships. The 40-year-old came in second during his heat with a time of 6.78 however after a false start and a disqualification in the semi-final he failed to progress any further. The qualifying time for next month’s European Indoor Championships in Glasgow is 6.60 seconds
PA
47/50 8 February 2019
A model during a photo call for fashion presentation Fashion in Motion: Inspired by Christian Dior at the Victoria and Albert Museum, in South Kensington, London
PA
48/50 7 February 2019
President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker receives Prime Minister Theresa May, in the VIP corner of The Berlaymont, the headquarters of the European Commission in Brussels. The EU and UK have agreed to restart Brexit talks to find “a way through” the deadlock in Westminster, following her visit
Getty
49/50 6 February 2019
The group of activists who stopped a deportation flight leaving Stansted Airport have walked free from court and are to appeal their convictions. The defendants, who have become known as the Stansted 15, said they were “guilty of nothing more than intervening to prevent harm” to migrants on board the plane
PA
50/50 5 February 2019
Emergency services attend to a house fire Stafford in which four children have died. Two adults and a fifth child are being treated in hospital
SWNS
He added: “But we cannot delay forever. It is in politicians’ power to make the weaker data we see today a blip.”
The survey was conducted between 11 December and 21 February meaning that optimism could have deteriorated more significantly than the numbers suggest.
While employment in the UK is high by historic standards, economists have raised concerns that productivity growth has remained low.
Despite the weaker outlook, the REC’s survey suggests employers are ready to hire in some areas – especially where there are skills shortages.
Half (49 per cent) of UK employers expressed concern about the availability of permanent-hire candidates, with a lack of engineers and health and social care workers to causing most concern.
Following this quarter’s decline in anticipated demand for temporary workers, 35 per cent of employers intending to hire temporary workers expressed concern over the sufficient number of agency workers with the necessary skills they require.
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