London has fallen into fourth place for business creation in the UK, its worst performance since the Office for National Statistics began compiling the annual survey.

There were a record 102,140 business 'births' in the capital in 2016 – up from 100,920 the previous year – while 82,075 companies closed – up significantly from 64,025 in 2015.

This left London with a net addition of 20,065 businesses last year, equivalent to 3.4pc of active companies in the region and a big reduction on 2015 when the figure was 6.8pc.

It means London now ranks in fourth place among the nine English regions when it comes to net business creation, the first time the capital has failed to secure the top spot since the ONS began the series in 2010.

The East of England recorded the most impressive business creation figures last year with net additions equivalent to 5.4pc of active businesses in the region.