Fears of global stock market slump but UK employment at 10 year high
Video report by ITV News' Economics Editor Richard Edgar
Fears of a new global slump have taken hold around the world as stock markets tumbled, with more than £50 billion wiped off the value of Britain's top companies.
The London market saw £52 billion wiped off top flight shares sending the market close to four-year lows.
The trigger for the economic turbulence was the plummeting price of oil and China's slowing growth.
The FTSE 100 Index fell more than 3%, or 203.2 points, to 5673.6 as the price of Brent Crude dipped below 27.50 US dollars a barrel. It was the market's lowest level since November 2012.
Oil prices have collapsed by more than 70% since their peak of around 115 US dollars a barrel in summer 2014, as large producers such as Saudi Arabia maintain production levels, putting US shale rivals under pressure.
BP's chief executive Bob Dudley said the first half of this year will be "particularly brutal" for the industry.
"Everyone's looking on how to move through this storm," he said.
Global markets also slumped with New York's Dow Jones Industrial Average falling more than 2% in early trading, while Germany's Dax and the Cac 40 in France were around 3% lower.
Britain has already been affected by China's problems with massive job losses in the steel industry.
Turmoil within the trading and industrial sectors has overshadowed more positive news in the UK as statistics have revealed that unemployment has been at its lowest for 10 years.
Unemployment has dropped to 5.1%, its lowest level since 2005 with the number of people in work up by more than half a million last year.