UK firms bullish after 2014 ends strongly

British businesses enjoyed a strong end last year, marked by rising demand at home and abroad and a record number of companies hiring staff, a major business survey showed.

The British Chambers of Commerce's quarterly economic survey - the largest of its kind in Britain - also showed manufacturing and services companies were in fairly confident mood about their prospects for this year.

Four months before a national election, the report will make welcome reading for the ruling Conservatives, following a string of surveys and data that suggested the nation's economic recovery slowed towards the end of last year.

The net balance of manufacturers and service sector firms that expanded their workforce in the past quarter rose to the highest level since records began in 1989, the organisation said.

But it said "political point-scoring" could yet derail the strong business confidence, adding that the base interest rate should remain at its record low 0.5 per cent.

"If current and future governments do the right things, there is no reason why the UK should not enjoy sustainable growth," said John Longworth, the organisation's director general. "With no signs of inflation and no upward pressure on wages, there is no justification for an early rise in interest rates."

Consumer price inflation fell to a 12-year low of 1 per cent in November last year, and only two out of the Bank of England's nine rate setters have voted to raise the key interest rate from 0.5 per cent since August. Financial markets currently price in a first rate rise early next year.