Brexit LIVE: What happened to Project Fear? Two in three Scottish businesses are hiring

Brexit Britain 'firing on all cylinders' says expert

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Research published by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) suggested 67 percent of Scottish employers plan to recruit in the three months to September – up from 45 percent six months ago and 41 percent this time last year. The labour market outlook survey involved more than 2,000 UK employers covering all sectors of the economy.

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The CIPD, which specialises in human resources and job training, said the number of Scottish employers planning on redundancies “has settled around nine percent, compared to 32 percent in summer 2020”.

This suggests the end of the furlough scheme “should be a relatively smooth transition with minimal job losses”, it added.

Across the whole of the UK, about a quarter (26 percent) of employers in hospitality, arts and entertainment were looking to hire last summer. The figure for this summer is 72 percent.

In transport and storage, the figures have risen from 33 percent to 65 percent of employers looking to hire over the same period.

Nevertheless, both sectors have been hit by both COVID-19 and changes to immigration rules after Brexit, and are suffering from widely reported labour shortages, the CIPD said.

Nearly half (44 percent) of employers with hard-to-fill vacancies say they plan to boost the skills of existing staff, about a quarter (26 percent) said they would hire more apprentices, and 23 percent said they would raise wages.

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CIPD Scotland head Lee Ann Panglea said: “Employers are very optimistic, indicating strong recruitment intentions and redundancy expectations appear much lower than originally predicted during the pandemic.

“As the furlough scheme winds down, employers will no longer be able to flex their workforce to meet demand by rapidly expanding and contracting staffing levels at minimal cost.

“Recruitment and retention will have to pick up the slack as employers look to plug any gaps in their workforce.

“In the absence of labour supply in some sectors, employers will need to think more long-term about how they meet skills needs.

“Organisations should look carefully at their recruitment and retention strategies, and consider where they need to develop these, for example by increasing investment in training and re-skilling.

“Employers also have a huge role to play in improving working lives and fair work principles should be kept in mind when building retention and recruitment strategies.”

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7.59am update: UK Average house price drops for first time in 2021 but Rightmove predicts autumn ‘bounce’

Rightmore has reported that the average price of property coming to market has plunged by £1,076 (-0.3 percent) this month – the first drop to be recorded in 2021 so far. However, the UK’s largest property site is predicting an autumn “bounce” as prices fall in the “upper-end sector”.

With stamp duty savings largely behind us, Rightmove has seen prices drop in the upper-end four-bedroom-plus sector.

Prices have dropped by £4,699 (-0.8 percent) in the month, with buyers no longer making larger stamp duty savings after the threshold was reduced at the end of June.

However, Rightmove also recorded record highs in the price of property coming to market in the mass-market sectors which includes first-time buyer properties.

7.48am update: Emmanuel Macron to ‘pull whole Brexit thing down’ to maintain hostile atmosphere with UK

Emmanuel Macron and the EU are set for more hostility towards the UK in an attempt to “bring Brexit down” according to a political scientist.

Director of UK in a Changing Europe, Professor Anand Menon insisted French President Emmanuel Macron considers fights with Britain good politics.

During an interview with Express.co.uk, he argued hostility from both sides was expected to continue for two key reasons.

One reason being the issues surrounding Northern Ireland and another being the EU’s determination to see Brexit fail.

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