Sky News presenter Anna Jones announced the latest GDP data from the Office for National Statistics, which showed the economy has shrunk by -0.01% . Describing it "a worry" for Chancellor Rachel Reeves as "many of her numbers depend on good growth" she turned to business and economics correspondent Paul Kelso to explain the figures.
"They show us in the first month of the year, January, the economy contracted. Growth fell by -0.01%.
The economy's consensus was for growth of 0.1% so it's not much either side of zero, but the being the wrong side of zero is where nobody wants to be," he said. "We had growth in December of 0.
4% slightly bucking the trend. But the last two quarters of 2024 were flat, and this is the last thing the chancellor will want to have seen today - never mind British business and indeed, the employees and people who depend on them." "January was when the government's growth narrative began.
Every time you spoke to a government minister...
growth was the message. We can see why, because it wasn't being delivered in January," he continued. "The main contributor to the negative direction is [the fact] production fell nearly 1% - so that's goods manufacturing, making stuff.
that buoyancy there has been in the economy driven by services, which makes up the bulk of the economy. "In the UK, that dropped away in January. So this rather confirms the trend with fear of an economy that is bumping along around zero.
"We are 10 days away from the spring statement, when .
