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Surprise drop in UK unemployment to 4.7% as John Healey’s first budget looms

Latest ONS data presents mixed picture amid slump in job vacancies and analysts warning labour market is ‘running on idle’

Unemployment in the UK has fallen unexpectedly in the final snapshot of the jobs market before John Healey’s first budget next week.

The jobless rate fell to 4.7% in the three months to August, from 4.9% according to the Office for National Statistics. City economists had forecast a rise to 5%.

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© Photograph: Susannah Ireland/The Guardian

© Photograph: Susannah Ireland/The Guardian

© Photograph: Susannah Ireland/The Guardian

Repairing Brexit economic damage should be Burnham’s top priority, business chief says

Shevaun Haviland argues PM is right to revisit Labour’s EU red lines as current trading relationship is bad for business

Repairing the economic damage of Brexit should be the top priority for Andy Burnham as he reconsiders Labour’s red lines on EU membership, the head of one of Britain’s leading business groups has said.

Shevaun Haviland, the director general of the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), said she welcomed the prime minister reopening the Brexit battle lines despite the uncertainty it could create, arguing that the UK’s current trading relationship with the EU was bad for business.

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© Photograph: Toby Melville/Reuters

© Photograph: Toby Melville/Reuters

© Photograph: Toby Melville/Reuters

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