2:02PM

Signing off...

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Thanks for following our coverage of the latest official figures on Britain’s jobs market, which showed vacancies dropped to a five-year low.

A quick look at the markets shows the pound is firmly higher, up 0.5pc against the dollar to $1.337 and up 0.3pc versus the euro to €1.191.

By contrast, the FTSE 100 was down 0.7pc and the FTSE 250 was lower by 0.9pc after the data cemented the case for the Bank of England to raise interest rates next month.

You can follow the latest here .

1:48PM

Former Burnham adviser backs Tory plan for the economy

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A former adviser to Andy Burnham has backed the Conservative Party’s plan for the economy, saying it is “better suited” to addressing Britain’s problems.

Andy Haldane said Kemi Badenoch’s pledge to deliver a smaller state and lower taxes offered a more likely path to growth compared with plans for an increase in public spending under Mr Burnham.

The diagnosis is stark given that Mr Haldane…