Has Labour stalled the London jobs engine?

London has suffered the worst falls in payroll jobs as the UK economy stalls under Labour.

The capital accounts for eight of the 10 biggest local declines in employees over the past year. In Westminster there has been a 3.2 per cent reduction on company books.

The picture is similarly bleak for the headline unemployment measure. The rate for January to March was 6.2 per cent in London - often regarded as the engine of the British economy - up 1.6 percentage points on the same period last year.

The overall UK rate was 4.5 per cent and has only gone up 0.2 percentage points, according to the latest data.

The figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) yesterday fuelled alarm about a slowdown amid Rachel Reeves' tax raid hit and minimum wage rises.