The services companies that make up the bulk of Britain's economy struggled in the three months to May and remain loathe to invest because of uncertainty around Brexit, a business survey showed.

Business and professional services companies reported the biggest fall in the volume of work since August 2012 and were "extremely negative" about the outlook for the year ahead, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) said.

They expected to cut investment in land and businesses at the fastest pace since 2010, the survey showed.

The CBI said the volume of work also declined in the consumer services industry, albeit at a slower pace than in the business and professional sector.

On the upside, the CBI said services companies remained keen to hire staff -- a finding broadly mirrored by a survey published on Wednesday by the Recruitment and Employment Confederation. "The jobs market is robust, but more businesses remain negative about the future than positive," REC chief executive Neil Carberry said.