In its latest economic report, the CBI said it was critical to address skill and worker shortages, and to unlock business investment through capital allowances and regulatory changes, such as removing the de facto ban on onshore wind, improving mobility to facilitate trade in services and updating the national planning policy framework.

With three-quarters of businesses facing staff shortages, ‘we need a joined-up plan that addresses this. This should include co-ordinated action to enable upskilling and automation across businesses to ease pressures, as well as reducing economic inactivity, supported by a more flexible immigration system,’ the CBI said.

The economy is likely to have fallen into a recession in Q3 2022, when GDP shrank by 0.2%, according to the latest CBI economic outlook. The business group expects the recession to last until the end of 2023 – as a result, it has downgraded the GDP growth outlook significantly, to -0.4% in 2023 (from 1.0% in the last CBI forecast).