UK unemployment rose to 1.97m between October and December last year according to official figures from the Office for National Statistics.

This figure is less than the 2m that many analysts predicted, but this watershed mark is expected to be broken when the next official figures are released.

The unemployment rate increased to 6.3% - the highest figure since 1997. Unemployment in the UK is lower than the European average of 7.7%, but UK jobless number are increasing twice as fast as the European average.

"The UK began the global recession with a relatively strong jobs position, but our advantage is beginning to disappear as redundancies mount," said Brendan Barber of the Trades Union Congress.