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South West businesses are far less confident and optimistic about their prospects with more of them blaming the ongoing Brexit imbroglio, a new report shows.

The latest Business Barometer from Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking shows business confidence in the South West’s private sector fell 18 points during August 2019 to 11%.

Companies in the South West reported lower confidence in their business prospects, which fell 20 points to 22%, and lower economic optimism, down 16 points to a rock bottom 0%. Together, this gives an overall confidence of 11%.

Across the region, a net balance of 12% of businesses said they felt the º£½ÇÊÓƵ’s exit from the European Union was having a negative impact on their expectations for business activity - up four points on a month before.

But despite overall confidence falling from the previous month, the South West is the second most confident region in the º£½ÇÊÓƵ, after the West Midlands, which has a reading of 15%.

And there was some more positive news with businesses’ hiring intentions showing a net balance of 14% of firms in the region expect to hire more staff during the next year.

Despite this being down 10 points on July 2019, firms in the region have the second highest hiring intentions in the º£½ÇÊÓƵ.

David Beaumont, regional director for the South West at Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking, said: “Although overall confidence has decreased from the picture we saw in July’s Business Barometer, the South West still remains a strong and resilient º£½ÇÊÓƵ region.