UK bounces back to growth after one of shortest slumps

THE economy surged back to growth in a major boost to Rishi Sunak just a week after the Tories suffered an elections drubbing across the country.

- Jonathan Prynn, Nicholas Cecil

After one of the shortest recessions on record, official figures showed GDP jumped by a stronger-than-expected 0.6 per cent in the first three months of this year. The figures suggested the economy may finally be gaining some momentum after years of slow growth as it emerged from the shallow recession at the end of last year.

They caught the City by surprise and sent the FTSE-100 index of leading shares powering to a new all-time high.

By mid-morning the blue chip index stood at 8,442, up around 60 points.

Today’s announcement shows the key services sector, which accounts for 80 per cent of output, growing at 0.7 per cent between January and March, while the production sector, which includes manufacturing, was 0.8 per cent higher but construction fell by 0.9 per cent.