Concerns that Britain’s dismal first-quarter growth of 0.1% was the start of a prolonged slowdown rather than a blip caused by unusually cold weather were reignited yesterday.
The publication of worse than expected manufacturing and trade data raised new questions about the outlook for the economy, and the split between the optimistic Bank of England and the gloomy Office of National Statistics.
Ever since the first estimate of growth in the three months to March was released on April 27, there has been a debate about the underlying state of the economy.
