Employer confidence has slumped to a five-year low, prompting fears that the UK jobs market is “cooling off”, according to a new report.

A survey of 2,100 employers by recruiter Manpower found that pessimism was “acute” in London because of fears over the capital’s prospects after the UK leaves the European Union.

James Hick, managing director of ManpowerGroup Solutions, said the capital has been suffering from a “double-whammy” of poor confidence in firms and “flatlining” recruitment.

Mr Hick said: “This makes for a pretty bleak midwinter considering it comes at a time when Brexit talks are on a knife-edge. It will no doubt prompt fears that our high-flying jobs market might be cooling off. The key-indicator sectors of finance and business services and the public sector have both seen a fall this quarter which could bear out this slowing down.

“In the aftermath of Brexit people predicted that London would suffer a ‘capital flight’ as major financial institutions relocated to the likes of Paris and Frankfurt.”

He added: “While we haven’t seen a mass exit so far, we are starting to see tangible signs of London’s pre-eminence fading with the capital reporting its weakest outlook in four years.”

Transport firms were said to be bucking the trend, as employers strive to retain workers amid a shortage of lorry drivers and fears of a Brexit-related “exodus” of workers.

“With so many EU workers employed in driving and logistics roles, employers are already mindful of the cliff-edge scenario of exiting EU workers that may accompany Brexit. This is also a sector with a rapidly ageing workforce, with a significant proportion of drivers entering their sixties,” said Mr Hick.