Accountants: Business confidence is recovering after Brexit vote

BUSINESS confidence may be on an “up-tick” after hitting rock bottom amid Brexit turmoil, accountants said today.

The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales said there had been an 11 point fall — to minus 10.2 — in its latest quarterly confidence survey, running from April 27 to July 20. Stephen Ibbotson, the institute’s director of business, said the drop was “probably the largest fall we have seen since 2008”.

But he added: “Towards the end of the survey period, there was a slight up-tick so maybe we’ve got to the bottom.”

The i nst i t ute is still f orec ast i ng, though, that economic growth will grind almost to a halt in the third quarter of this year, nudging up by just 0.1 per cent. And the Markit/CIPS purc h a s i n g mana ge r s i n d ex s a i d UK manufacturing has been hit by the sharpest contraction in more than three years, with job losses in factories at its second worse over this period.

The Bank of England is expected this week to cut interest rates from their historic low of 0.5 per cent to boost the economy.

Meanwhile , Tor y pe e r Baro ne s s Wheatcroft signalled that the Lords could delay an attempt to enact Brexit. A le gal challenge on whether t he Government can trigger Article 50, to start the EU withdrawal process, without prior authorisation of Parliament is set to be heard in the High Court in the autumn. Baroness Wheatcroft said: “I think there’s a majority in the Lords for remaining.”

Treasury minister Lord O’Neill could reportedly quit after Downing Street ordered a review of plans for a new nuclear power plant at Hinkley Point.