Amazon is expanding its UK workforce by 5,000 – a significant vote of confidence in Britain’s status as a business hub in the turbulent lead-up to Brexit.

The retail giant has announced it is filling roles across a slew of departments, hiring software developers, engineers and technicians, as well as more junior positions.

Staff in seasonal roles will be encouraged to take permanent ones, taking its total UK workforce to more than 24,000.

Amazon will also be launching an apprenticeship programme “offering hundreds of people opportunities in engineering, logistics and warehousing roles in fulfilment centres across the UK”.

The move indicates that for many major multinationals, the UK remains an attractive place to do business, despite the fact that elements of the country’s future relationship with the EU remain highly opaque.

Theresa May has said Britain will not try to “cherry-pick” which parts of the EU it maintains access to after Brexit.

The Prime Minister defended her decision to withdraw the UK from the single market and negotiate a trade deal with the EU, saying this did not amount to an unfair attempt to retain a choice of membership privileges.

Think tanks and business groups have warned Brexit could lead to a talent drain on certain industries, exacerbating the skills gap in the UK.

Last month, the London Stock Exchange warned that Brexit poses a risk to the global financial system and could cost the City up to 230,000 jobs.

But this hasn’t deterred all.

The world’s most valuable brands Show all 10 1 /10 The world’s most valuable brands The world’s most valuable brands 1st - Google Google replaced Apple as the world’s most valuable brand, with a brand value of $109.5bn, according to Brand Finance The world’s most valuable brands 2nd - Apple Apple’s brand value declined from $145.9bn to $107.1bn in 2016 The world’s most valuable brands 3rd - Amazon Amazon's brand value rose from $69.6bn to $106.4bn in 2016 Amazon The world’s most valuable brands 4th - At&t Of the 40 telecoms brands in the ranking, AT&T in 2016 overtook Verizon as the most valuable brand rising to $87bn from $59.9bn the year before The world’s most valuable brands 5th - Microsoft Microsoft's brand value rose marginally from $67.3bn to $76.3bn in 2016 The world’s most valuable brands 6th - Samsung Amazon's brand value rose from $58.6bn to $66.2bn The world’s most valuable brands 7th - Verizon Verizon's brand value inched up from $63.1bn to $65.9bn The world’s most valuable brands 8th - Walmart Walmart's brand value rose from $53.6bn to $62.5bn The world’s most valuable brands 9th - Facebook Facebook's brand value increased sharply from $34bn to just shy of $62bn The world’s most valuable brands 10th - ICBC ICBC saw its brand value rise to $47.8bn from $36.3bn. It was the most valuabe financial brand in the world in 2016 replacing Wells Fargo