This is a breaking news story. Follow us on Google News, Flipboard, Apple News, Twitter, Facebook or visit The Mirror homepage.
The UK economy grew by more than expected in February in a welcome boost for Labour and Rachel Reeves. Gross domestic product (GDP) expanded by 0.5%, according to the latest data from the Office for National Statistics.
This is higher than the 0.1% that had been expected by economists, and is an improvement after no growth was recorded in January. GDP is a measure of the size and health of the economy. ONS director of economic statistics Liz McKeown said: “The economy grew strongly in February with widespread growth across both services and manufacturing industries.
“Within services, computer programming, telecoms and car dealerships all had strong months, while in manufacturing, electronics and pharmaceuticals led the way and car manufacturing also picked up after its recent poor performance. Across the last three months as a whole, the economy also grew strongly with broad-based growth across services industries.”
However, these figures were before US President Donald Trump announced his “Liberation Day” tariffs last week, which is expected to have hampered UK growth. A new report by the Bank of England this week warned of increased risks to global financial stability, following the tariffs.
The by its Financial Policy Committee (FPC) found: “The global risk environment has deteriorated and uncertainty has intensified. The probability of adverse events, and the potential severity of their impact, have risen.”
This is a breaking news story. Follow us on Google News , Flipboard , Apple News , Twitter , Facebook or visit The Mirror homepage.