British factory orders picked up this month after dipping in January, and output is expected to be solid as Britain leaves the European Union, a survey from the Confederation of British Industry showed on Wednesday.
Although the CBI warned that Brexit talks were rapidly approaching “crisis point”, its data painted a more positive picture ahead of Brexit than many recent surveys of the sector.
Official data last week showed the sector contracted by the biggest amount in over five years during the final three months of 2018.
The CBI’s factory order book balance rose to +6 this month from January’s reading of -1, above all forecasts in a Reuters poll of economists and above the survey’s long-run average.
Export order growth also strengthened, though manufacturers expected output growth to slow over the next three months from the above-average rates predicted in December and January.
“UK manufacturing activity has moderated at the same time as headwinds from Brexit uncertainty and a weaker global trading environment have grown,” CBI economist Anna Leach said.
Britain’s main manufacturing body, Make UK, warned on Tuesday that a no-deal Brexit next month would be a “catastrophic prospect” for the sector.
Finance minister Philip Hammond told Make UK’s annual dinner that lawmakers and EU leaders needed to listen to industry.
“The clock is ticking quickly towards crisis point,” Leach added. “It is of critical importance that politicians of all stripes and on both sides of the channel come to agreement on the terms of a Brexit deal as soon as possible.”
Labour and the Conservatives could face more resignations, with members of the new Independent Group saying they expect more MPs to join them.
Ex-Tory MP Heidi Allen told ITV's Peston programme "a third" of Tory MPs were fed up with the party's direction.
Labour MP Ian Austin told the Express and Star he would think "long and hard" about his future in the party.
It comes as Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said defecting MPs should "resign and put themselves up for election".
Meanwhile, former attorney general Dominic Grieve said he would quit the Conservatives if there was a no-deal Brexit.
The Tory MP told the BBC's Newsnight he admired the courage of the 11 members of the Independent Group - eight ex-Labour MPs and three former Tory MPs - and agreed totally with their support for another EU referendum.
He said he would not be able to stay in the Conservative Party if it "went completely off the rails" and backed leaving the EU without a negotiated agreement.
Conservative defectors insist 'no way back'
Anna Soubry, one of three Tory MPs to quit the party on Wednesday, has insisted there is no "going back" since Tories like her had lost the fight for the heart and soul of the party and been overwhelmed by a "purple Momentum".
She also revealed that former PM David Cameron had made a last-ditch attempt to stop the trio from quitting.
She told The Times Red Box podcast that Mr Cameron sent them a text saying: "Is it too late to persuade you to stay?"
Ms Allen said she could not imagine returning "because if we do our jobs right there won't be a Tory party to go back to".
She said she was "hopeful" that what she described as "good, sensible centre ground colleagues" would join the new group.
Senior Conservatives have suggested the door is open for the three Tories who quit - Ms Soubry, Ms Allen and Sarah Wollaston - to return one day.
Prime Minister Theresa May has rejected claims the party has abandoned the centre ground in its pursuit of a hard Brexit, pledging to continue to offer the "decent, moderate and patriotic politics that I believe the people of the UK deserve".
Corbyn wants defectors to quit
In a Twitter video released on Wednesday night, Mr Corbyn said defecting Labour MPs should resign because it was the "democratic thing to do" because they wanted to "abandon the policies on which they were elected".
While the Labour leader said he was disappointed, he suggested the eight were replaceable and the Labour movement was "greater than the sum of its parts".
"It is disappointing that some MPs have left our party to sit with disaffected Tory MPs, but we can't return to the failed business of usual politics of the past," he said.
Other Labour MPs have said they will consider their futures unless Mr Corbyn listens to their concerns about the culture of the party and acts on them.
Meanwhile, Momentum, the Labour movement backing Mr Corbyn, is to hold "mass canvassing events" in the constituencies of some of those ex-Labour MPs to build support in the event of a by-election.
It says it will have events in Streatham, Stockport, and Penistone and Stocksbridge - the constituencies of Chuka Umunna, Ann Coffey and Angela Smith respectively - in the next few weeks.
Labour apology over anti-Semitism
The Labour leader said he would not change direction in response to the defections but repeated that tackling anti-Semitism was a priority for him.He has been accused by departing MPs, including Joan Ryan and Luciana Berger, of allowing a culture of "anti-Jewish racism" to flourish and for Jews to be "abused with impunity" by his supporters.
One of Mr Corbyn's senior team, Barry Gardiner, apologised to the Jewish community in the House of Commons on Wednesday, saying it had "let them down" and Labour was "struggling" to "become the party we have always aspired to be".
Mr Corbyn said he recognised the party had work to do to restore trust among the Jewish community and to persuade people the party was its "ally" in the fight against anti-Semitism.
The party said it had suspended the membership application of left-wing firebrand Derek Hatton over Twitter comments he made about Israel in 2012.
Lord Mandelson told ITV's Robert Peston he felt "morally compromised" staying in "a party that can spew out so much hatred towards other members", but he also urged Labour MPs not to leave the party.
International Correspondent,dhaka(wp/reuters)::: Large building fires are relatively common in impoverished Bangladesh, due in part to lax regulations, and have killed hundreds of people in recent years.
“So far, 70 bodies have been recovered. The number could rise further as the search is continuing,” Julfikar Rahman, a director of the Fire Service and Civil Defence, told Reuters.
The fire started in a four-storey building on Wednesday night and spread to nearby buildings in the Chawkbazar area of Old Dhaka, which dates back to the Mughal period more than 300 years ago.
Rahman said at least 50 people had been taken to hospital, some in critical condition. Hundreds of people rushed to the Dhaka Medical College and Hospital to search for missing relatives, witnesses said.
About 200 firefighters fought for more than five hours to bring the blaze under control. They told reporters the building where the fire began had housed a plastics warehouse and contained flammable material.
Rahman said the cause was still under investigation.
He said firefighters had struggled to find enough water to fight the blaze and had to draw supplies from a nearby mosque.
The fire is likely to focus attention on lax enforcement of building safety regulations in Bangladesh, where accidents kill hundreds every year.
The Rana Plaza factory collapse in 2013 killed more than 1,100 workers and a fire in a garment factory in 2012 killed 112 people.
