Business confidence and private sector employment market health have taken a big hit in the latest index released by audit, accountancy and business services firm BDO.

The firm’s employment index for the private sector labour market fell from 93.4 in October to 91.5 in November, while business optimism index fell from 93.4 to 86.2.

Peter Hemington, partner at BDO, says: “We believe it is imperative that the government adopts a more liberal approach to borrowing, enabling larger scale government investment in infrastructure.

“While the commitment to inject £5bn into infrastructure projects announced by the Chancellor in his Autumn Statement is welcome, we would therefore like to see more dramatic steps taken. In particular, housing projects are crying out for government finance, which would throw a lifeline to the UK’s stuttering recovery.”