Growth chilled by heavy snow

BLIZZARDS caused by the ‘Beast from the East’ slowed economic growth at the start of 2018, according to a top thinktank.

The storm, which brought much of the country to a standstill last month, is likely to have pushed growth down to 0.2pc in the first quarter, says the National Institute of Economic and Social Research.

This is a drop of 0.2 points from the last three months of 2018.

It came as separate figures showed a surprise 0.2pc fall in factory output in February, and a 1.6pc slowdown in construction.