The number of people claiming unemployment benefits in Britain has hit a 10-year high of just under 2 million, according to official figures posted on Wednesday.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown has been meeting UK business leaders to discuss how to get more people working. Bank of England chief Mervyn King made the blunt assessment that the United Kingdom economy is in a deep recession.

The bank warns the UK economy could contract by as much as 4 percent over a year. That's a sharp downward revision of the bank's last forecast.

Meanwhile, the Bank of England has signaled it will do everything in its power - including cutting interest rates further and raising the money supply - to ease the impact of this economic downturn.

(CCTV February 13, 2009)