Pre-election growth boost for Sunak as experts sound optimistic note at last

RISHI Sunak was given a glimmer of hope of an economic feel-good factor returning to Britain ahead of the general election as official figures showed limited growth.

Gross domestic product rose a slender 0.1 per cent in February, according to the Office for National Statistics.

It also revised up the previous estimate for January from 0.2 per cent to 0.3 per cent growth.

The economy fell into recession in the second half of last year, shrinking for two consecutive quarters.

Commenting on today’s figures, ONS director of economic statistics Liz McKeown said: “Looking across the last three months as a whole, the economy grew for the first time since last summer.”

Rob Wood, chief UK economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, said: “We are optimistic about the near-term outlook for GDP.”

However, with the election widely expected to be in the autumn, it is still far from clear if many households will feel better off by then.

While average wage rises have been outstripping inflation, many homeowners have seen their mortgage payments rise sharply after the Bank of England increased interest rates to control runaway inflation, with rents also increasing for many tenants in London.

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said: “These figures are a welcome sign that the economy is turning a corner, and we can build on this progress if we stick to our plan.”

But shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves stressed: “After 14 years of Conservative economic failure, Britain is worse off with low growth and high taxes.”

Mr Sunak met his pledge to halve inflation last year, with it falling from around 11 per cent to 3.4 per cent in February, however, this is still above the BoE’s two per cent target. By the election, he might well be able to say he has met his goal to get the economy growing, even if it is only meagre. But he faces a bigger challenge to persuade voters that he has cut NHS waiting lists.