THE government’s handling of Brexit is causing a steep decline in construction jobs, the GMB union warned yesterday.

It said that construction workers are facing a “torrid time” after the purchasing management index (PMI) figures for construction showed a decline from 45 to 43.3 last month. A score above 50 indicates growth.

Most government economists had predicted that the figures, generally regarded as an indicator of economic health, would remain the same.

The decline is the second fastest for construction on the PMI this decade.

GMB national secretary for manufacturing Jude Brimble said the figures showed that, “outside of the big publicly funded projects, the UK construction industry is facing a torrid time as confidence has collapsed among a significant number of businesses and customers.

“Jobs in the construction are being lost at the fastest rate since 2010 and government ministers are doing nothing to rectify the situation.

“Construction workers’ jobs are the latest casualty of Tory Brexit chaos and the absence of a proper industrial strategy only makes things worse.

“Ministers need to stop pretending the UK can crash out of the EU without a deal this month and start putting plans in place to safeguard our jobs and industries.”

The latest figures came after Lancashire construction firm Marcus Worthington Group went into insolvency on Tuesday, destroying hundreds of construction jobs across the north-west of England.

In a statement, the company’s directors said: “The current economic uncertainty has led to us struggling to secure additional borrowing from our bank lenders.

“We have also been unable to attract fresh funding from other lenders because of these testing market conditions.”